Creative Encounters Tirana 28-29 January 2024

It is an absolute pleasure to be part of this event at the beginning of my mandate, echoing the brand of the newly create ministry – economy, culture, and innovation,.

Albania is a country with a diverse and rich cultural heritage, and it is well known for unique traditions, customs, and artistic expressions. During the last 20 years, Albania has encountered rapid economic growth through developments in many areas, such as infrastructure, tourism and agrotourism, services, etc. While initially chaotic, most of the recent growth has been built on a strong foundation of a creative economy, often based on the country’s unique historical and cultural heritage as well as an ever-more vibrant artistic scene.

These recent trends have been underpinned by a long-term vision which aims to transform Albania into a knowledge-based economy as well as to position the country as a leading destination of multi-sectoral tourism, entertainment, and recreation. Improvements education curricula, grants and programs to support innovative SMEs, investments in broadband connectivity, are only some of the many reforms we continue to undertake in order to enhance and incentivize innovation in Albania.

Given my personal background as well, I am quite pleased to highlight the role that Arts is playing as a key sector of the creative economy in Albania, bridging the cultural heritage and contemporary art in a form that creates the potential to thrive. Albania is home to many well-known artists, who throughout decades have provided a significant contribution to the artistic scenes, locally and internationally. Their unique talent to blend the traditional Albanian art forms with contemporary art have ranked Albania as one of the most appealing countries in innovative creations, bringing new opportunities for cooperation and development in the creative economy.

Lately, we have all witnessed that Albanian film producers and actors are gaining the deserved recognition at international film festivals, putting Albania on the global map of the film industry, bringing also new opportunities for development of hubs for film production. On the other hand, entertainment and festivals’ bloom have created a new vibe in the cities, promoting city’s brand, increasing tourism, and community interaction. The regional exchange has never been higher in the Balkans, and creative industries have been one of the main drivers for this, bringing significant benefits to the economy.

We have strong reasons to believe that the creative economy and industries in Albania have immense potential to drive economic growth, attract investment and create new jobs for the youth.

Through many education reforms and investments, Albania has already started to position itself as a hub for creativity and innovation. However, it remains a challenge for us as a government to continue to deepen our work with the private sector to support the creative talents, increase investments in infrastructure, education, and

legal framework so as to make creative industries into a permanent leading driver of economic growth. This, we hope, will also be an important reason to entice Albania’s talented youth to remaing and build their life in the country, while also becoming recognised globally with our innovative products and solutions.

I strongly believe, that by investing in the creative economy and industries, Albania will foster promotion of its unique cultural identity to the world and will thrive a brighter future.