Dr.Mag. Elvana Hana: The Western Balkans Forum, an inevitable need to anticipate economic developments

Your Excellency, Mr. President of the Republic of Albania,
Honorable Mrs. Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania,
Honorable Mr. Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo,
Honorable Mr. Governor of the Republic of Albania,
Honorable Mr. Minister of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Albania,
Honorable Ambassadors, University Rectors, Economists and Entrepreneurs,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The initiative to establish a forum on the economy and future economic developments in the Western Balkans comes as an unavoidable need to anticipate economic developments, so that we will not be just passive decision-makers when economic effects occur.

All of us want to see our countries as more prosperous, but we delay to invest in the right assets to achieve this prosperity.

“Scan Media Group” is a fully economic focused media. Since nearly 10 years it operates professionally in the Albanian market. Our initiative for establishing an economic forum comes naturally in this context. This initiative has been joined by the Albanian Securities Exchange and the National Union of Chambers of Commerce, as well as a part of the national and regional economic elite.

Thank you very much to everyone.

Regional co-operation is one of the main goals of the European Integration Process. However, work on strengthening long-term cooperation should not only be seen as meeting EU requirements, but also as a factor contributing to the reforms that the businesses of our countries talk about.
Financial and economic co-operation is a very important part of political co-operation, and a very important factor of stability and prosperity in the Balkan countries.

The similarities between our countries, our common goal for European integration, the harmonization of legislation as well as a common heritage as far as the development of markets is concerned, make our cooperation easier.

There are many forms of co-operation in general, where we note a breakthrough in people’s free movement, an increase in employment, which, according to the World Bank’s Fall 2017 report, Western Balkans has created some 230,000 new jobs with a growth rate of 3.8%.

Meanwhile, if growth is an accelerator of development, then all our countries need to set a better balance between capital and current spending. According to the same report, the average regional expenditure on public wages and social benefits reaches 23.2% of GDP, 4-fold the average capital expenditures that reach 5.5% of GDP, leaving little room for growth for the Western Balkans.

Financial integration remains one of the best sources of economic growth. While all these countries have to approach their national legislation with the European one, this definitely generates a need for cooperation among institutions and financial markets in the Balkans.
We all know that small fragmented capital markets mean less liquidity, not only making it difficult for the economy to grow, but also making our economies less competitive on a global level. A common market in the region will not only break the barriers but will simplify access to funding anywhere in the region.

This interaction can take different forms starting from the political one, legal one and regulatory improvements to the financial system and their oversight at the level of financial institutions, stock exchanges and educational institutions. However, cooperation should not be seen only as an element in meeting the regional obligations for European integration but also as a factor where economic and legal financial improvements are also the prerequisites of economic and social stability in the region as a whole.

2018 has been labeled by the European Commission as a crucial year for the Western Balkans to overcome its integration phase, which involves the free movement of people, as well as labor and capital. While as far as the first two are concerned there is progress, encouraged by the Berlin Process, the free movement of capital has lagged behind.

The Western Balkans – a 20-million-strong market of 90 billion US dollars – remains a small international actor, so integrating our markets is not a luxury but a necessity.

The integration of capital consists of two aspects: Integration of both the real and financial economy. While in the real side there is some progress, due to of the initiatives of individual businesses, we lag behind with the capital market, which is also very important for economic growth. Despite the Western Balkans’ stock exchanges – including Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Albania, and with the expected Kosovo Stock Exchange – have today reached a $ 7.3 billion capitalization, including only 60 companies in the region, they are still somewhere as much as the half of two other Balkan countries, Slovenia and Croatia already integrated into the EU, which have a capitalization of $ 13.9 billion. This clearly shows that integration into a larger market creates greater opportunities for economic growth.

SCAN’s Economic Forum brings together all the important actors of political leadership, markets and companies, and certainly the elite of regional economic thought. We intend to activate these three forces in the service of developing our countries. We aim for the Western Balkans not to be a problematic and isolated region but an active participant in global economic realities. We want the Balkans of the future to be the Balkans of the welfare.

Welcome speech of the first edition of Tirana Economic Forum

*Material i përgatitur nga portali SCAN. Ripublikimi mund të bëhet vetëm kundrejt citimit të autorësisë dhe burimit origjinal.