Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana intense meetings with entrepreneurs from China and Romania

October 24 and 25, 2019 were intense working days for Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana and its member entrepreneurs. In the frame of 17 + 1, Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted in dedicated meetings heads of Chamber of Beijing, China and entrepreneurs of this country. CCIT also became part of the business forum with Romania, where Chamber entrepreneurs had separate meetings with Romanian businesses. On October 24, 2019, at the Chamber’s premises, Mr. Nikolin Jaka and his supportive staff received a delegation from the China Council for the Promotion of Inetrnational Trade at a meeting. The Chinese delegation consisted of the Chairman of the Beijing Chamber; Mr. Zhang Yongming, Director of Foreign Relations Mr.Li Xiaoyuan; Mr. Yuan Xiaokun Vice Director of Foreign Relations; Ms. Gong Chencong, CIPTB Staff. This courtesy meeting was finalized with the signing of the cooperation agreement between the two heads of the Chamber, which took place in the premises of the Municipality of Tirana.

The day was followed by a business forum with Romanian companies, where the Chairman of the Chamber and his accompanying staff together with a business delegation were welcomed by a Romanian delegation composed of Mr Dan Dragomir. President of the Valcea Chamber, Mr. Mircea Paplea Romanian Ambassador to Albania, Mr. Costica T. Mustata President of the Bucharest Chamber, etc. In his word at the forum, President Jaka said that organizing this business mission is a real opportunity to find new ways of cooperation between the entrepreneurs of our two countries. “The political relations between our two countries can be considered at their best moment. This assessment is attributed to the high level of political dialogue. Albania and Romania are members of all regional initiatives and many international organizations. Romania, as an EU member state, and Albania, as an EU candidate country, consider as essential for the region, the European integration of all Western Balkan countries”, said Jaka, by emphasizing that resizing the economic relations between our two countries is necessary.

On the second day of Mr. Jaka intensive meetings, were first held meetings with the staff of Athens Chamber of Commerce led by President Ioannis Chatzitheodosiou. During this informal meeting it was discussed about signing a Cooperation Agreement between the Chambers in the first half of 2020.

Further on the agenda was the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the two chambers of Bucharest and the Chamber of Tirana. The most important meeting and event was the Round Table between the Speakers of Chambers 17 + 1, where the President of CCIT was also the moderator of this activity. In his address, President Jaka said that “this initiative, which is moving towards its institutionalization, is a concrete opportunity for all the countries of the CEE region to further develop economic and trade cooperation with the Republic of China, further promoting exports and investments in priority sectors of the economy ”. According to Mr. Jaka, for Albania the economic and trade cooperation with China has increased, especially in recent years, however compared to the potential there is still not at the right level. The activity was successfully closed with the signing of the declaration by two new members, the Chamber of Athens and the Chamber China – Romania

Along with this event was also organized the business forum where over 20 companies from China, Romania and Albania had the opportunity to hold B2B meetings. The 17 + 1 Summit of Southeast and Eastern European capitals is an initiative initiated by China to expand co-operation in the fields of investment, transport, finance, science, education and culture, and this year was held in Tirana.