Albanian PM backs Serbian-Albanian commerce chamber

Albanian PM backs Serbian-Albanian commerce chamber

The Chamber will contribute to improving trade, investment and economic ties between the two countries, according to a statement issued by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), carried by Beta.

PKS President Marko Cadez spoke with Rama in Tirana, and also visited Durres as part of preparations to organize a business forum Serbia-Albania.

The event will take place on October 14 in Nis, southern Serbia when Rama and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic will meet, and when the mixed Chamber, that will be based in Tirana, will officially start working.

The establishment of the mixed business association was initiated by Albanian and Serbian businesspeople, supported by the PKS, the Association of Chambers of Commerce of Albania, the Tirana Chamber of Commerce, and other business associations in Albania, according to the statement.

"There is almost no area where the business community would not be able to work together, and in our conversation with Prime Minister Rama, we gave special consideration to specific investment opportunities in agribusiness and tourism," said Cadez.

He added that there were great chances that design and construction companies from Serbia will be hired to work on regional and large-scale projects that Albania plans to implement in the future.

"If we are building a highway from Nis through Pristina and Tirana to Durres, or a railway, which will connect Western Balkan countries infrastructurally, which will be financially supported by the European Union, it is also an opportunity to network our companies to jointly, organized in consortia, take part in tenders for these facilities," said Cadez.

According to him, this is also the goal of the Chamber Investment Forum as a regional platform established within the framework of the Berlin Process, whose activities he presented to Rama together with the President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce Safet Gerxhaliu.

Cadez said that this Forum includes eight national chambers gathering together 300,000 companies that are their members. "This is a huge potential, because united like that we will better presented and utilize the capacities of our companies, provide them with jobs and the conditions for strengthening our economy and for growth and development of the Western Balkans," he said.

Cadez and Gerxhaliu plan to travel to Montenegro today and present the results so far and plans of the Chamber Investment Forum to PM Milo Djukanovic.

They will also in the coming period discuss joint projects with the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Velimir Mijuskovic.