By Tuba Sahin and Yunus Girgin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will help the modernization of the Albanian Customs Administration to set effective, fast, and efficient customs procedures, the Turkish trade minister said on Friday.
Speaking at the virtually held Turkey-Albania Chamber of Commerce and Industry Forum First Economy Conference, Ruhsar Pekcan said in line with the requests of the Albanian customs authority, a delegation from the Turkish Trade Ministry will visit the country in February for technical cooperation.
The decision was taken during Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's visit to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara on Jan. 6.
She stressed that the trade volume between Turkey and Albania amounted to half a million US dollars thanks to the free trade deal signed in 2008.
The protocol on the revision of the rules of origin of the free trade agreement was accepted by the Turkish parliament this week, Pekcan said.
"Our companies will gain new opportunities for input procurement and processing in the Europe-Mediterranean network thanks to this renewed rules of origin protocol," Pekcan noted.
The bilateral trade is expected to improve based on balanced, sustainable, and common benefit with the positive contribution of the deal, Pekcan underlined.
"Within this framework, we wish to achieve a trading volume of $1 billion soon," she said.
Touching on recent economic indicators that have raised the expectations for a rapid recovery in the Turkish economy, Pekcan said Turkey is willing to exercise its dynamism on trade and investment ties with neighboring countries.
"Our target is to provide a level of cooperation worthy of our friendly relations and to be able to carry out many joint projects," Pekcan said.
Noting that Albania and Turkey are candidates for EU membership, Pekcan said in a period when the COVID-19 pandemic has taken hold of the whole world, the solidarity and cooperation the two sides will show have become ever more important.
"I would like to underline that we are open to all kinds of cooperation with Albania in terms of fighting the economic fallout from the pandemic," Pekcan said.
Underlying that the market value of Turkish companies' investments in Albania is nearly $1 billion, Pekcan said: "It is clear that there are important business opportunities in the field of industry, tourism, agricultural technologies, and infrastructure investments."
For her part, Anila Denaj, Albania’s finance and economy minister, said that the relation between Turkey and Albania are excellent.
“Turkey is a friendly country which is with us in the most difficult times. For Albania, Turkey has always been a strategic partner in the region and the different regions”, she said.
Noting that Turkey is one of Albania's most important trading partners, Denaj said the authorities do their best to make things easier for Turkish investors in Albania.
“Our cooperation is increasing in tourism, infrastructure and many other fields. At the same time, we want to expand our cooperation in innovation and other areas,” she added.