Kuwait Lends Albania 14.3 Mln Euro for Road Project

Date	Apr 1, 2008	Place	Albania
Type	Construction & Real Estate	Industry	Civil Engineering
Value	14.300000.00

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.

Istanbul To Host The Republic of Turkey - Business and Investment Summit

Type	Conferences
Dates	Jun 5, 2008 - Jun 6, 2008
Official WebSite	http://www.euroconvention.com/9251-istanbulhome.htm
Industries	Banking/Financial Services
Topics	Business, Economy, Conferences/Exhibitions
Address	Hyatt Regency Istanbul, Taskisla Caddesi, Taksim, Istanbul, 34437 Turkey
Participants	Organizer: European Finance Convention

Kosovo Business and Investment Summit Opens in Pristina

Type	Conferences
Dates	Jun 25, 2008 - Jun 26, 2008
Official WebSite	http://www.euroconvention.com/1751-Kosovo.htm
Topics	Business, Economy, Conferences/Exhibitions
Address	Grand Hotel Pristina, Pristina, Serbia
Participants	Organizer: European Finance Convention

Albania ABCDE - Call for Papers

The World Bank Office in Tirana will organize the first annual Albania - World Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) by end of May 2008.

This conference is intended to be an annual event focusing on different development themes each year .

This first edition of the conference will address aspects of Albania's growth and transition focusing on
"Labor market restructuring and the development of a competitive labor force in Albania"

Some of the topics could include:

• labor costs, taxation and informality
• agriculture, rural labor market trends and competitiveness
• skills gap, education and training policies
• financing basic services for a competitive labor force
• poverty analysis
• unemployment and labor market analysis
• social protection
• information society
• migration
• small business issues, including access to credit and technologies

The conference will include presentations and discussions of recent analytical work by the World Bank, but will also include work by relevant local and regional government agencies, development partners, academic institutions, think tanks and NGOs.

To this end, the World Bank is seeking papers (published or unpublished) of relevance to the above topic. Papers should already be completed by the time of submission. Papers should be submitted, preferably in English but Albanian versions with abstract in English will also be reviewed.

Selected authors should be prepared to make a summary presentation during the conference. No honoraria will be provided, but some transportation and lodging costs may be accommodated. The World Bank reserves the right to accept or reject papers for inclusion in the conference.

The deadline for submitting papers for review is April 15, 2008 in electronic or hard copy to Ana Gjokutaj at email address (agjokutaj@worldbank.org) and office address (World Bank Country Office, Deshmoret e 4 Shkurtit Str. no. 34, Tirana, Albania).

Albanian Central Bank - Monetary Policy Document for 2008

Albanian Central Bank has published its annual monetary policy document for 2008.

http://reports.aiidatapro.com/ABC/Monetary_Policy_Document_2008.pdf

Albania's Jan-Feb Trade Gap Widens by 25% to 46.07 Bln Leks (373 Mln Euro)

Albania's trade balance for the first two months of the year showed a deficit of 46.07 billion leks ($584 million/373 million euro), up 25% from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute (INSTAT) said on Tuesday.