Thursday, May 22, 2008

Free trade between Turkey and Albania

The agreement which establishes a free trade zone between Turkey and Albania, will come into force on May 1st.

Free Trade Between Turkey And Albania

ANKARA — The agreement which establishes a free trade zone between Turkey and Albania, will come into force on May 1st.

Turkey’s Foreign Trade Undersecretariat said in a statement on Tuesday that the agreement will provide Turkish exporters with the equal opportunity of competition with EU exporters in Albanian market.

The agreement is expected to boost economic and commercial relations between the two countries. It will also encourage Turkish and Albanian businessmen to increase their joint investments.

Turkey-Albania trade volume increased 41 percent to 318 million USD in 2007 according to the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat figures. Exports by Turkey to Albania rose 38 percent to 294 million USD while imports from Albania climbed 90 percent to 24 million USD in the same year.

(UK-AÖ)

Source: Turkish Press - 4/29/2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Strauss Group Sign an Agreement With the Italian Coffee Company Don Café to Acquire it's Coffee Business in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia



Press ReleaseSource: Strauss Group Ltd

Strauss Group Sign an Agreement With the Italian Coffee Company Don Café to Acquire it's Coffee Business in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia
Wednesday May 14, 7:35 am ET

RAMAT GAN, Israel, May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Strauss Group (TASE: STRS) announced this morning that an agreement had been signed between Strauss Coffee and the Italian company Don café for the acquisition of the latter's coffee business in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, its trademarks Don café and Princ which are registered in a number of countries in the EU as well as in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as fixed assets, inventory and working capital.
The business that was acquired is profitable and its turnover totaled approximately 4।5 million Euro in 2007.

Strauss Coffee paid 7.5 million euro for the business, the brands, inventory and the fixed assets.

Erez Vigodman said:" this acquisition is complementary to our operations in the former Yugoslavia countries and it supports our continued expansion in this region, which has great growth potential. In the past few years we have been active in this region with the Doncafé brand, mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, and have turned it into a leading brand in these countries in the roast and ground (R&G) coffee segment and other coffee related products and services by applying a well designed marketing and communications strategy, while also building a state-of-the-art R&G production facility to world standards in Serbia. Acquiring a business whose name and major brand are the same as ours , will enable us to explore the possibility of extending the use of the brand to other geographies, after checking the viability of such moves, while leveraging the know-how, competencies and infrastructures we have built in this part of the world to more countries, and perhaps even to other geographical regions."

About the transaction:

Doncafe Italy is active in the R&G category through the brands Don and Princ. Strauss Coffee is active through the brand "Doncafe" in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, after having acquired the Doncafé Company in Serbia. The transaction, closed in 2005, granted Strauss ownership of the Doncafé brand in these countries only. Strauss Coffee has significantly grown its business in these countries in the past few years, developing a marketing and communications strategy for the brand and establishing a world-class coffee plant. During the same period the Italian Doncafé business (now being acquired) was active mainly in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo, focusing on espresso coffee.

The transaction grants Strauss complete ownership of the brand and of a number of sub-brands, and includes the acquisition of the existing production facilities in Albania.

The Princ brand is considered a leading brand and possesses the largest market share in R&G coffee in Kosovo, while Doncafé is considered the second-largest brand in Albania in the same category.

The sales turnover acquired totaled approximately EUR 4.5 million in 2007.

Strauss plans to explore the possibility of extending the brand's business to other countries in which the group is active today. The acquired operations will be managed by Strauss Coffee in Serbia, and the products under the acquired brands will be manufactured in part in the plant in Albania and in Strauss Coffee's existing plants in the region.

The acquisition will be financed from the company's internal resources.

About Strauss Coffee:

Today, Strauss Coffee is the seventh largest coffee company in the world in terms of green coffee consumption, and one of the world's fastest growing coffee companies over the past five years.

In this period Strauss Coffee has tripled in size, growing from NIS 1 billion in 2002 to NIS 2.9 billion at the end of 2007, with the international coffee business accounting for NIS 2.3 billion (almost four times as high as the corresponding figure for 2002).

Strauss Coffee recently signed an agreement with the international equity fund TPG to become a shareholder in Strauss Coffee following the acquisition of 25% of Strauss Coffee's shares, at an enterprise value of approximately US$1 billion (pre-money).

Strauss Coffee's activities focus on the R&G segment and other coffee related products (instant coffee, chocolate and cocoa powders, cappuccino, espresso, organic coffee) and services (particularly solutions for Away-From-Home coffee consumption).

The company enjoys a leading position in the coffee markets in Israel, Central and Eastern Europe and Brazil.

The geographic clusters in which the company is active today include Israel, Brazil (through a joint venture with the Lima brothers in Santa Clara), Poland, the Balkans (Romania and Bulgaria), the former Yugoslavia countries (mainly Serbia), and the former USSR countries (mainly Russia and Ukraine).

The green coffee procurement center, which serves the entire group, is located in Zug (Switzerland). Additionally, Santa Clara owns green coffee processing plants in Brazil which export coffee for the group's activities as well as for external customers worldwide.

Since the beginning of 2007 the Strauss coffee business operates as one company (including the coffee business in Israel), reporting to the CEO and the management of Strauss Coffee.

In the next few years the group plans to enhance the coffee company's growth and expansion process.

    

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey

The Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey is to contribute to government agenda to improve quality and effectiveness of public services through spreading and making effective e-government applications. The specific objective of the project is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the land registry and cadastre services. This objective will be achieved through: (i) renovating and updating cadastre maps to support digital cadastre and land registry information; (ii) making the digital land registry and cadastre information available to public and private entities; (iii) improving customer services in land registry and cadastre offices; (iv) improving human resources in the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Agency (TKGM); and (v) developing policies and capacity to introduce in Turkey best international practices in property valuation. The project will include the following components: (i) cadastre and land registry renovation and updating, which will support the conversion (into digital format), updating and integration of existing analogue and digital cadastre information, land registry and related data, into updated, accurate, consistent and standardized legally agreed cadastral renovated digital map and data sets, that will be available for entry into TAKBIS; (ii) improved service delivery, which will support the modernization of the TKGM infrastructure so as to improve TKGM's ability to provide core services to the Government and citizens of Turkey; (iii) human resources and institutional development, which will support the development of strategic plans and human resources development plans to ensure that the TKGM personnel skills match the strategic needs of the organization; and (iv) project management. This component will finance the project management costs, including the procurement and financial management consultants, the incremental operation costs to supervise the central and field activities, and the monitoring and evaluations costs including the costs of customer surveys. The project focuses on improving government services. While most of project investments are oriented towards renovation of cadastre, the ultimate objective of the operation is to improve government services in registering property rights and in providing land and real estate information to public and private sectors.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Interview of Camille Nuamah, the World Bank Country Manager to VOA Television

Nuamah: The World Bank is advising Albania on the economic challenges

Available in: Albanian

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund foresee a decelerated economic growth in Albania due to the current global crisis. Camille Nuamah, the representative of the World Bank in Albania says that the bank is advising the government to face the challenges emerging from the instability of the financial markets, the increase of energy and food prices.

Photo_interview_VoA_CamilleThe deceleration of the economic growth in the United States and in Europe seems to have quite an impact on the Albanian economy. The instability in the financial markets is causing a reduction and costly international crediting. The representative of the World Bank says that for a country like Albania, where a part of the growth in the crediting market is supported by the remittances (foreign transfers), therefore this situation might lead to a reduction of the crediting market, which assists the promotion of the economic growth.

"Our advice to the government is the careful supervision of the banks, in order to better see their investments in Albania and to increase the attentiveness regarding the banks’ crediting activities.”

The increase of food items and energy prices is causing an increase of the inflation rate, which makes it necessary to have stronger monetary and fiscal policies. In these circumstances the World Bank considers the commitment of the government to decrease the budgetary deficit a good starting point.

"After the last agreement with IMF, we have witnessed a draw back of the government from some fiscal policies that were planned for 2007, aiming at the decrease of the budgetary deficit from 7.9 per cent into 5.2 percent. And this is a good start. The financial conditions of KESH (Albanian Electric Power Corporate) should be very carefully taken into consideration, because that has consequences for the fiscal policies and when some strong fiscal policies are necessary in one year, special attention should be paid to how the electric energy price will affect (have an impact) on the financial situation of KESH and the possibilities of the budget to assist it.”

The World Bank is one the biggest donors in the energetic sector in Albania. Together with the Monetary Fund, the World Bank suggested the increase of the energy price, which seems to be insufficient and might be followed up by another increase.

"The increase of the price was delayed by two months, as such Albania lost in a way the possibility to get sources for its imports or its production in crucial months, like January and February. The World Bank is of the opinion that this price increase will not be sufficient and this is the reason why we and IMF are encouraging the government for another price increase. The timing for this increase will depend on the cost-estimations, because in case that there is more energy production in the country (locally) there will be less need for imports. Another factor will be the capability of KESH to collect incomes from the bills.”

With regard to the impact that the increase of prices will have on the poor class of the society, the World Bank is advising the government to improve the objective of its salary and pensions’ policies, in order that they support exactly those who are not in the position to afford the prices.

"The World Bank is of the opinion that there is a serious need for intervention in these policies, in order that the support is not provided for the whole middle class sin general, as this would increase the demand and consequently would lead to increase of the inflation rate. Special attention should be paid to the subsidies that will be provided for the electric energy and to the increase of pensions, which is a very important part of the poverty alleviation in Albania, should be provided to the poor.”

The electric energy remains the most important (key) issue for the Albanian economy, which seems to keep away the foreign investments, which have been smaller than expected. The representative of the World Bank says that a lot of attention should be paid to the labor market restructuring, in order to accomplish a deep reform that would rank Albania in a more convenient competitive position. Despite of the relatively cheap labor costs, Albania lacks the capabilities and effectiveness in attracting the foreign investments.


The World Bank's Strategy in Turkey: 2008-2011

Turkey’s economic development has global significance, given its size, role as a regional power, and strategic location, bridging East and West. Turkey is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the prospect of European Union (EU) accession remains a key anchor of political and economic reforms. Turkey, with a population of 70.6 million, is one of the large middle-income partners of the World Bank Group (WBG).

Turkey is the largest borrower in the Europe and Central Asia Region and it has been the third largest World Bank borrower in terms of new commitments of over US$1।5 billion during the last three years. Turkey is currently IFC’s fifth largest exposure after Russia, India, China and Brazil. As of September 2007, IFC’s committed portfolio totaled US$1.6 billion.

For further information follow the below link:

http://www.worldbank.org.tr/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/TURKEYEXTN/0,,menuPK:361725~pagePK:141132~piPK:141105~theSitePK:361712,00.html


Negotiations for the Lake Skadar / Shkoder Integrated Ecosystem Management Project

Tirana, April 24, 2008 – The World Bank (IBRD) and the Governments of Albania and Montenegro concluded today the negotiations for a new grant of Global Environment Facility (GEF) ) of US$ 4.55 million for the Lake Skadar-Shkoder Integrated Ecosystem Management Project. The main objective of this project is to help establish and strengthen institutional mechanisms for transboundary cooperation through joint efforts to improve sustainable management of Lake Skadar-Shkoder.

Through this project the World Bank/GEF aims to assist the establishment and strengthening of institutional cooperation to operationalize the Bilateral Lake Management Committee and its Secretariat. It will also promote sustainable approaches to economic development of the lake (and its natural resources) by focusing on tourism and fisheries.

The project will achieve its objectives through three main components: (i) Capacity Building for Improved Understanding and Joint Management of the Lake; (ii) Promoting Sustainable Use of the Lake; and (iii) Catalyzing Pollution Reduction Investments. Some project-financed activities will be carried out in both countries and some in each country but all activities will have lake-wide benefits.

The total cost of the World Bank/GEF Project is estimated at US$4.55 million, with US$1.99 million for Albania, and US$2.56 million for Montenegro. The Governments of Albania and Montenegro will provide respectively US$ 940,000 and US$ 8,370,000 in counterpart financing to help meet the project objectives. The project is expected to go for approval to the Board of Directors in May 2008.

Implementation will be undertaken by the Albanian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration and Montenegrin Ministry of Tourism and Environment Protection।

Source : World Bank

Friday, April 11, 2008

Kuwait Lends Albania 14.3 Mln Euro for Road Project

DateApr 1, 2008PlaceAlbania
TypeConstruction & Real Estate
IndustryCivil Engineering
Value14.300000.00
Albania has borrowed 14.3 million euro ($22.4 million) from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) for the construction of two bypass roads that would ease traffic on the road linking Albania’s Adriatic port of Durres with Kosovo's capital Pristina.