ANSA news

(by Pier Paolo Gratton) (ANSA) - MONFALCONE (GORIZIA) - Albania's prime minister Edi Rama introduces himself to Italy and bets on Italy's regions. After visiting Puglia and the other southern regions, Rama visited Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the former mayor of Tirana had formal meetings - Rama said that his meeting with the president of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Debora Serracchiani was 'intense and interesting'- but also business talks to convince northeastern entrepreneurs to invest in the Balkan country overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Rama was very precise and determined. ''Albania and the Balkans do not have a good reputation in the Western countries, but today things are changing. We have inherited a difficult situation - said Rama in a meeting with local businessmen organized by the leader of the Industry managers of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Giuseppe Bono - with not budgeted debts of Public Administration, about 720 million dollars, which is due to private companies. We have already started giving them back and by 2015 we will achieve a balance. Thanks to the Pope's visit - Albania's PM said - we are trying to improve our image and we will be successful''. Energy, tourism, manufacturing industry in general: these are the sectors in which Italian entrepreneurs are called to invest in Albania ''attracted and supported - said Rama - even by a fixed tax, that is 15%, and by the absence of bureaucracy. Who comes to our country once, then comes back again - he added - because the labour cost is the lowest in Europe, because language is not a problem and because Albania and Italy are really close to each other''. Rama has chosen to visit Fincantieri - ''it's like a space ship which has landed back on Earth'', he said, startled by the high technological level of Monfalcone - even though he's particularly interested in small and medium-sized enterprises. ''In Albania we are changing everything and the state is ready to support and assist entrepreneurs wishing to do business with us''. Rama spoke of an agreement with China in the tourism sector and underlined ''the big chances in the energy sector. Albania is the second country in Europe for water resources after Norway - he explained - and we want to strengthen this sector even through with joint-venture enterprises''. Rama said that he is counting very much on Italy and on the regions whose entrepreneurs have already set up their businesses in Albania. ''We are working to change our country - he concluded - and we will succeed in doing this job. The era of fixers is definitely finished''. (ANSA).