The Second Business roundtable with the Government of Albania organized by the Economist Group on October 31st, 2007 was a very big important day for all the participants. This high-level Business Roundtable was a unique opportunity for senior businesspeople to engage in substantive discussion with all the relevant Albanian decision-makers. In one day of off-the-record discussion, this conference brought under the same roof the Vice Prime Minister, key Economic Ministers and Senior Corporate speakers of Albania. The interactive meeting, moderated by experts from the Economist Group, enabled Foreign Investors and local business leaders to exchange ideas on the future of Albania's economy and business environment.

The key business issues that were discussed during the Conference were the following:

• Albania's business environment in comparative perspective.
• Changes in taxation policy that businesses expect.
• The government's plans for privatization.
• How the government addresses issues of concern to companies, such as dealing with bureaucracy, corruption, the judicial system, property registration and transport links.
• The government policies to make power supplies more reliable.
• Albania's EU integration prospects.

At this exclusive meeting, not only it was benefited from first-hand access to the latest developments in government policy that impact business—but also was introduced a new off-the-record discussion session with representatives of international institutions including the IMF, the World Bank and the EU.

A very good turnout for the Foreign Investors Association of Albania (FIAA), being main Supporter of this Conference, was a sixty per cent participation of the active membership.
It is worth to mention that part of the panel of discussion were prestigious companies, members of FIAA, such as Raiffeisen Bank, The Bankers Petroleum, Wolf Theiss, Titan, Philip Morris and so many others that offered to the audience:

• Debating face-to-face with key government ministers and officials that gauged the impact of their plans on the business, from resolving infrastructure bottlenecks to reducing the tax burden
• Hearing from local managing directors and learning how they have met and mastered the challenges of doing business in Albania
• Business Benchmarking against the most successful local and multinational companies operating in Albania

The Analyst of the “Intelligence Unit” for “The Economist”, Richard Eames expressed that since a year from the first roundtable organized with the Government of Albania there have been a lot of changes in the business environment.
There have been taken positive steps towards the tax system that instigate the market developments, positive steps for the registration of business amidst the One Stop Shop center, there has been an increase in the banking system etc.
He also stressed that problems of the country such as the issue of power supply burden upon the businesses, but the foreign companies that are willing to invest in Albania are well aware of this situation.
To conclude, Eames stressed that many other steps should be taken in order to attract more foreign investors coming to Albania.

As a networking forum, a learning event and a chance to refresh knowledge of this key south European marketplace, the Second Business Roundtable with the Government of Albania was without equal

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