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Albania-Turkey Economic Summit/ Balluku: We will strengthen bridges of cooperation for new investment opportunities

2025-10-17 13:26:00, Aktualitet CNA

Albania-Turkey Economic Summit/ Balluku: We will strengthen bridges of

The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, was present at the Albania-Turkey Economic Summit.

In her speech, Balluku expressed that this economic summit is not only a platform to discuss investments, but also a living reflection of the close and stable relations that exist between our two countries, Albania and Turkey.

The government's number two said that bridges of cooperation need to be further strengthened, to explore new investment opportunities and to give new impetus to economic relations.

Speech by Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku

Friends,

I believe that you should feel at home here, just like every time an Albanian feels when they cross the border to enter Turkey.

We Albanians have an ancient history, we are indigenous to our country. We have been through a lot, but one thing has never changed, that we have always walked side by side with our Turkish brothers and have always opened the doors of our homes, but also of our hearts, to each other and above all, we have never prejudiced each other's customs, traditions and beliefs.

So today in this hall I feel better than anywhere else, as I feel welcomed in a community of investors, where AIDA and its equivalent, MUSIAD, skillfully started with two very warm videos. I was discussing with my colleague, the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Delina Ibraimi, how beautiful both videos were and which of the two highlighted more what Albania and Turkey have actually built over the centuries.

I welcome you and assure you, especially those who have visited Tirana for the first time, which must be a few of you, that in these few days that you stay in Tirana or visit Albania, you will undoubtedly fall in love with this place and will find it difficult to leave.

This Economic Summit is not only a platform to discuss investments, but also a vivid reflection of the close and stable relations that exist between our two countries, Albania and Turkey. The partnership between Albania and Turkey is built on mutual trust and a shared vision for development and stability in the region.

Today I am here to further strengthen these bridges of cooperation, to explore new investment opportunities and to give a new impetus to our economic relations. The reasons why a Turkish enterprise should come to invest in Albania, unwittingly blaspheming history with this comparison of mine, have not changed much from the reasons why Bayezid, Murat or Mehmet Fatih wanted to settle in Albania. Albania has a dynamic market that brings with it incomparable advantages for all those who invest money in these 28 thousand square kilometers. We are a small country in terms of map, area, but big in opportunities.

As Hurriyet writes, Albania is much more than a beach destination, it is a new business destination, but Turkish businesses, Turkish investors have discovered this at the very first opportunity that Albania opened its doors in the early 1990s. We are a country with one of the most favorable fiscal frameworks in Europe, with additional benefits for all foreign investors or new sectors, such as tourism, energy, technology, agriculture and industry, where tax exemptions or other tax incentives are applied. For example, in the IT or software production sector, Albania applies a 5% tax on profit or a 15-year tax exemption for businesses located in technological or scientific parks. In agriculture and agrotourism, a 5% tax is applied at least until 2029. The automotive industry again 5% profit until the end of 2029.

Tourism is a sector where, with great effort, we are following in the footsteps that Turkey has taken 20 years before us, attracting elite brands and encouraging the world's biggest brands and names. For all those entrepreneurs who want to replicate this success story, bringing four or five star brands to Albania, ten years of exemption from profit tax and local taxes are granted. Cinematography, part of another, ever more powerful process of modern Turkey, or pension funds are completely exempt from taxes. I remember a blog, which showed that some of the most famous actors in Turkey are part of that community of almost 5 million citizens who have a background or origin from Albanian soil. We have every chance that the young Ezel, the sad Bihter, in search of his lost passion or the companions of Suleiman the Magnificent, speak Albanian.

Honorable Vice President, I assure you that all Albanians present in this hall have watched the series of Suleiman the Magnificent without missing a single episode, but not only that, but also Kosem and all the others, and I have done it too, just so you know. It was one of the most beautiful parts of the entertainment, because it taught history in more detail.

As for cinematography, a few months ago a delegation from Hollywood came to discover new filming locations in Albania. There is no reason why these should not also be our shared locations in a new era of cooperation, where Albania as a European country and Turkey as a regional superpower, linked by a strong strategic relationship and an unparalleled history of friendship, have the opportunity to rise to the heights of expectations that until yesterday were only figments of the imagination.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear investors, for all these reasons and many others that are part of the panels of this unique discussion forum, I address all those who have come to this meeting with 'defter' in hand, invest now! You will not regret it, as we say in Albanian, using one of the many Turkish words. Even the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, a few days ago in Albania called on all European investors that today is the time to invest in Albania. But, as I said at the beginning of my speech, Turkish investors, our brothers, have discovered Albania as a convenient place to invest, as a friendly place to invest, as a place with fiscal incentives to invest, as a place where transparency and justice have prevailed for years. Therefore, it is no longer a call to say, come and invest, but now the call is to invest more in Albania. Become part of a growing army of Turkish companies and enterprises that have not only provided great benefits in Albania from the fields of energy, minerals, construction, the banking system, telecommunications, manufacturing and increasingly tourism, but have also transformed our country into the base from which their expansion around the world has begun.

Invest not as a gesture of solidarity, as you did in the early years of democracy in this country, much less as an act of charity, but as the smartest action that someone like you can take today to further grow your business. We believe that Albania and Turkey are not only good news, Albania and Turkey are good news for the entire region and all of Europe now. Therefore, the significant omen and symbol of holding the NATO forum in 2026 in Turkey and in 2027 for the first time ever in Albania, I am convinced that through the creation of a new security space, it will foster an expansive growth of cooperation between us.

Dear participants,

Albania, as a permanent consumer of Turkish goods, belongs to that increasingly large part of the world, fascinated by the Bayraktar drones, the latest reinforcement of our army and I must underline that the use of Bayraktar drones in Albania does not only have military use. We have benefited from this agreement, we have benefited from this new technology to use Bayraktar drones in a number of other sectors from civil emergencies, to agriculture and undoubtedly critical infrastructure and tourism. What is today the most sought-after military product in the world, was born yesterday as the fruit of the vision of a single man who started his spare parts company with a single 'matrapik', as he told us.

Good ideas, success stories are hidden here among you too. Therefore, I want to assure you in closing that the Albanian Government is not just a good friend, but a direct and ubiquitous partner to listen to, support, and multiply those successful, pioneering enterprises that Albanian-Turkish business has built year after year.

Thank you very much and I wish this day to be fruitful and with as much success as possible!/ CNA