Rama speaks from New York: the Zvërnec project grows the Albanian economy; “we are working to avoid environmental risks”

During a meeting with the Albanian community in Staten Island, New York, Prime Minister Edi Rama emphasized that turning the mountains into a source of prosperity is a necessity to further advance the Albanian economy.

He recalled that the country the first emigrants left when they came to America, over 30 years ago, had less than $200 per capita, while today, also thanks to the diaspora’s contribution, the economy has grown 75 times in 35 years.

“My ambition is that by 2030 we will have grown it 100 times. So, we have another 25 times ahead to grow together,” Rama declared.

On tourism, the prime minister said Albania has reached 12 million foreign visitors and the objective is for that number to reach 20 million. But more important than the number, according to him, is attracting quality investors to bring higher-value tourists. “Today the characteristic of Albanian tourism is the tourist with average and low income, while we lack the high-income tourist who represents high-value tourism,” Rama said.

He spoke about the Sazan project and the Zvërnec project, describing the latter as a potentially extraordinary project for the economy.

According to him, the Zvërnec project alone could bring more than 4 billion euros into an economy that is currently 27 billion euros.

Rama emphasized that the government is working intensively on a detailed environmental impact study, according to the highest international standards, to identify the real risks and not those which, in his words, “are produced every hour on social media by all kinds of charlatans and manipulators”.

“This is also the aim of the much-discussed project, the famous project, but also infamous, unfortunately as a result of so many, many lies, manipulations, denigrations, politicizations, the Sazan project and the Zvërnec project together with it — a project that potentially brings more than 4 billion euros to Zvërnec alone.

4 billion euros in an economy that in its total is 27 billion euros. You do the math yourselves better. It is an extraordinary project for Albania.

Of course we are very aware that as extraordinary as it is in size, as extraordinary as it is in ambition, as extraordinary as it is financially, it is extraordinarily delicate also in terms of balance with the environment and for this reason we are working very intensively to have a detailed and professional environmental impact study of the highest international standards and to understand exactly what the real risks are and not the risks that are produced every hour on social media by all kinds of charlatans and manipulators,” Prime Minister Rama said.