Conference “CEFTA Ten Years free trade - Challenges and Prospective”

February 16, 2017

On 12 – 13 December 2016 the International Conference “CEFTA Ten Years free trade – Challenges and Prospective” was held. The participants invited in the Conference were from public administration and institutions involved in trade, international organizations, Embassy form the main trading partners and from CEFTA, business associations and academia.

The Plenary session of the Conference is opened by the Minister of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship and addressed by other guest speakers. The Conference was held to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of CEFTA and 10 years from the signing of SAA. Being complementary processes, Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship aimed at assessing and introducing the impact of free trade under CEFTA and SAA to a greater audience. Therefore a study on free trade and its impact on Albanian trade and development is carried out and the results were presented during the Conference.

The event was organized in 4 panels, covering:

(i) 10 years free trade under CEFTA – achievements and results,
(ii) Future needs and expectations in regional cooperation,
(iii) Public-Private dialogue key for a sustainable economic growth and
(iv) and Tourism for the promotion of economy. The agenda is attached to this report.

All panels were organised in a way that presentations and speeches were delivered from then main public administration institution involved in the implementation of CEFTA, business associations and Chamber of Commerce as the main actor benefiting from the trade liberalization and international institutions supporting Albania in these processes.

Achievements to date of CEFTA were complemented with the results of the study and business prospective on CEFTA and its related processes. In addition, future challenges, including current negotiations and future goal were also presented in a separated panel.

The impact of trade to the economic development and other economic policies and reforms undertaken during the last years were also presented during the second day of the Conference.

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