NEWSLETTER MARS 2015 COSME AGREEMENT, FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR SMES NEW / ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, and Arben Ahmetaj, Albanian Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship, signed an Agreement formalising the entry of Albania in the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Programme (COSME). Commissioner Bieńkowska said, "I welcome Albania to the group of countries that can benefit from the COSME funds." More broadly on COSME and SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) policy, the Commissioner added, "Access to finance remains an important hurdle for SMEs. I want to use the financing possibilities of our COSME programme efficiently, and in parallel hear ideas on how to further reduce red tape and promote entrepreneurship for SMEs." OF GIRLS AND WOMEN VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING On March 18th, 2015 was held the round table, “New / Economic and Social Integration of girls and women victims of trafficking” organized from The International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Albanian Investment Development Agency presented the role and the support of the agency for women in business through the Creative Economy Fund and the Credit Fund for Women Entrepreneurs; AIDA’s experts presented the grant schemes offered from the agency and also emphasized the importance of assisting this category. The presentations encouraged participants and generated interest discussions for them. COSME is the EU programme aimed at strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs running from 2014-2020 with a budget of EUR 2.3bn. Albania is the fifth country outside the EU to join and contribute to the programme, after Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Turkey. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, National Employment Service and a number of associations that are involved in the protection of the women rights of and their society integration. COOPERATION BETWEEN ALBANIA AND STATISTICS, INSTAT: THE NETHERLANDS ON CORPORATE EMPLOYEES NUMBER SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INCREASED On March 4th The Embassy of Netherlands in Albania in collaboration with The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism and Enterpreneurship organized a conference for the purpose to inform the private and public sectors, the civil society member and organizations which operate in country for the importance of fostering the Corporation Social Responsibility in Albania. The conference was attended by the Netherlands ambassador to Tirana, Dewi van de Weerd, the permanent coordinator of United Nations Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, the president of Corporation Social Responsibility program in Albania Adamantios Frantzis and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ervin Mete. Businesses of a country should not only look after their own profits but it is needed that they play their role in the improvement of a good society. For this, the Corporation Social Responsibility program was presented to Albania, with the aim to raise awareness on the importance of being responsible for the society in which a corporation operates, and to take in consideration the positive and negative effects it may cause in a country. On 12th of March, in a media statement Prime Minister Rama revealed that in the last 3 months of 2014 the number of employees has increased by 82.629 people. This data refers to the Labour Force Survey produced from INSTAT. The number of people aged between 15 and 64 years old not included in the labor market has dropped to 105.113. In annual terms, employment rose by 8.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. Processing industry, market service activities and construction sector increased by 27.4%, 14.8% and 14.6% respectively. AIDA considers itself to be part of this success not only as part of the Government’s strategy into objectives, but also on results.. This is clearly seen in the successful implementation of the Fason Package as an important indicator of business performance in Albania. The cooperation of all stakeholders in assisting businesses, packages and facilitative policies introduced to the market translate successfully into figures that the Prime Minister gave in reference to employment increase in Albania. SUMMIT, RAMA: FREE OIL BLOCKS AVAILABLE TO INVESTORS Some of the most prestigious companies in the world in the In addition, the Albanian government will carry out the field of hydrocarbons joined today in Tirana, in a two-day seismic profiling in the free marine blocks, in order to summit on energy. The aim is to promote Albania’s natural prepare the necessary data base to organize auctions for resources and give information on the provision procedures other free blocks in the sea. A total of 13 free blocks of oil for free blocks of oil and gas. and gas are counted in the country. They are spread out in different areas and for all of them previous searches have The Ministry of Energy and IRN International opened the been conducted, with the conclusion that there is potential proceedings of the first day of "Albania Oil, Gas & Energy for reservations. Blocks are mainly located in the eastern 2015". Companies SOCAR, Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, and southeastern area. Anadarko, ENI, Fluxis, NIS and Repsol were the special guests of this two-day summit. Minister Gjiknuri said that very soon the Ministry of Energy will start procedures for the provision of the first three blocks for research to interested companies through competitive negotiation procedures, with the aim to attract more serious companies that could afford investments in new research in Albania. This will avoid past failures, Gjiknuri continued, where oil blocks were given to not serious actors, who were unable to fulfill the commitments made.
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