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Albania News

  • UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010

    AFGHANISTAN, 2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.
  • US LNG exports make European market more competitive

    ALBANIA, 2017/08/27 The European gas market is becoming additional and additional competitive and US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are part of this landscape, Francis Perrin, energy expert, chairman of Energy Strategies and Policies (France) told Trend. “Energy is always a strategic business. Economic aspects are very significant of course, particularly the price of LNG, but nations as well take into account strategic issues. For some Central and Eastern European nations one of the key priorities of their energy policies is the diversification of their supplies, in particular gas imports, in order to reduce their dependence on Russia,” said the expert.
  • European Union to support Albania's public administration reform

    ALBANIA, 2017/07/11 The European Union (EU) will be totally committed to provide assistance in the transformation of Albania's public government as it sees such reform as an absolute priority for the opening of EU accession talks, EU Ambassador to Albania Romana Vlahutin Monday told reporters. According to the EU ambassador, Albanian public government must be ready at the same time as the talks with the EU are launched.
  • European Union to support Albania's public administration reform

    ALBANIA, 2017/07/11 The European Union (EU) will be totally committed to provide assistance in the transformation of Albania's public government as it sees such reform as an absolute priority for the opening of EU accession talks, EU Ambassador to Albania Romana Vlahutin Monday told reporters. According to the EU ambassador, Albanian public government must be ready at the same time as the talks with the EU are launched.
  • Higher earning Why a university degree is worth more in some countries than others

    AFGHANISTAN, 2016/12/11 A university education may expand your mind. It will as well fatten your wallet. Data from the OECD, a club of rich nations, show that graduates can expect far better lifetime earnings than those without a degree. The size of this premium varies. It is greatest in Ireland, which has a high GDP per chief and rising inequality. Since 2000 the unemployment rate for under-35s has swelled to 8% for those with degrees – but to additional than 20% for those without, and nearly 40% for secondary school drop-outs. The country’s wealth presently goes disproportionately to workers with letters next their names.
  • Albanian Activists Mull Lawsuits to Stop Power Plants

    ALBANIA, 2016/09/24 Activists in the northern Albanian region of Tropoja are preparing to submit lawsuits to halt the planned construction of hydropower plants on the Valbona river and its tribunaries, claiming it will destroy tourism in the so-called "Albanian Alps". Catherine Bohne, an inhabitant of Valbona and chief of Toka, an environmental protection NGO for Northern Albania, told BIRN on Wednesday that a lawsuit is on the way. "We by presently started working with a lawyer and are presently mulling the best way to get the hydropower plants stopped," she said. Bohne, whose campaign is widely supported in Valbona, says that the process of granting rights to construct such plants in a designated protected area was filled with holes.
  • Tony Blair Winds up Operations in Albania

    ALBANIA, 2016/09/24 Tony Blair Associates, which is closing down, has completed and finished its tasks with the Albanian government, ending a period of collaboration that started in 2013. "Tony Blair Associates has completed its project with Albania and were very pleased to have assisted the Prime Minister [Edi Rama] and his government in their efforts to deliver better prosperity for the people of Albania," Benedict Macon-Cooney, a Blair media adviser, wrote to BIRN in an email. "As you will know, Mr Blair has often said how much the country and its people mean to him," he continued.
  • Europe in 2016: Terror fears, migration, politics. But economy may turn a corner

    ALBANIA, 2016/01/02
  • Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde

    AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02 World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
  • Albania mulls new policy package to upgrade tourism industry

    ALBANIA, 2015/09/29 Albanian government is preparing a policy package to improve the tourism sector and the price-added tax (VAT) for accommodation facilities will be reduced, said a government official on Sunday. "In the region we have Greece which applies a tax at the level of 6.5 %, Montenegro at 7 %, Macedonia at 5 % and Italy at 8 %. We have proposed a reduction of VAT to about 10 %," said Sonja Popa, director of tourism development in Albanian Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism. The legislation would as well provide businesses that want to invest to improve infrastructure with soft loans, thus addressing the major problem of Albanian tourism, and poor service.