UK-Albania Investment Forum - 19 April -London

4th UK-ALBANIA INVESTMENT FORUM 19 APRIL 2012 - 08:30 – 14:30

Venue: Europe House, 32 Smith Square, Westminster, London SW1P 3EU

See MAP here. European Commission Representation is two minutes walk from the Palace of Westminster

Nearest Tube Station: Westminster

The event is particularly important for Albania as this year marks its 100th Anniversary of Independence.

Albania is increasingly being portrayed as an attractive tourist destination by the British media with the Guardian placing Butrint – a UNESCO protected archaeological site, again as the top ten world destinations on its most recent “Short break ideas for 2012” review. Lonely Planed listed Albania as the number one tourist destination in the world for 2011.

On 22 October 2010 the Albanian Embassy in the United Kingdom organised a highly successful UK-Albania Investment Forum in central London. On 25 January 2012 IBDE and the British Embassy in Albania hosted a high level "UK-Albania Business and Economic Reform Forum" in Tirana, Albania. Whilst the global economy has suffered as a result of the financial crisis, Albania has retained a positive growth rate and outperforming its peers in the region. Following the above mentioned successful forums this important event is a logical follow up to build on the momentum of interest in Albania from the perspective of the business community in the United Kingdom.

The Forum will provide the gateway for investors to explore and discuss the investment climate and opportunities in other most attractive areas of investment in Albania as well as provide a direct contact with Albanian government and business leaders, through pre-arranged meetings between the Albanian Government and the Albanian business community to discuss specific projects.

Format

In order to allow for an effective promotion and exploration of opportunities in the country’s tourism sector, the conference is envisaged as an invitation-only event, with up to 120 participants with an interest in Albanian tourism. The forum will consist of two sessions; each with a different thematic emphasis. Each session will be introduced by three/four presentations given by Ministers, national promotional agencies, business leaders presenting success stories, and invited speakers with particular expertise in this field followed by Q & A. The event could also benefit from presentations that would include promotional activities such as: diving, hang-glider flying etc in addition to the existing archaeological sites and cultural tourism.

The first session will focus on tourism by:

exploring the strong progress being made within the tourism industry as Albania emerges as a desirable global tourist destination.

debating Albania’s enhanced tourism infrastructure both transportation and services and how that is impacting positively the recent boom in the tourism industry
exploring investment potential in tourism

The second session will:

explore business opportunities in the energy sector by looking at the progress made in power generation and distribution and the challenges that remain; use of domestic energy resources;

explore investment potential in construction and real estate sector.
examine Albania’s rapidly growing industrial base with particular focus on the country’s growing regional trade relationships.

A networking lunch will give participants the opportunity to further facilitate information exchange and contacts between prospective UK/EU investors and Albanian stakeholders - maximising opportunities and relationships in Albania.

Who should attend?

This is an invitation only event but companies that are interested in investing or exploring business opportunities in Albania as well as those already operating and/or seeking local business partners are encouraged to register their interest. Participation is FREE but places are limited and confirmation from IBDE is required.

Invitations are extended particularly to UK and EU-based agencies and tourist operators, business leaders and potential investors in the tourism industry, energy, mining, construction, real estate, hotels, investment funds / commercial and development banks as well as the media.

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Organised by the Albanian Embassy in London in cooperation with IBDE