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Welcome Address by Ambassador Zingraf at the virtual Conference on Acquiring Skilled Workforces in Albania

DIHA

DIHA, © DIHA

20.10.2020 - Rede

Dear President of DIHA, dear Stephanie Sieg,
Dear Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy, Dajna Sorensen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this conference. Even more so as today’s topic is of great importance for Albania and for the German-Albanian cooperation.

Albania is a country with huge potential. With a young, motivated and multilingual population striving for more.

However, many well trained Albanians are leaving their country because they see better opportunities abroad.

The German Foreign Office will be holding a conference starting on 28 October, together with Aspen Institute and Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, which will focus precisely on the issue of migration in the WEB. The event will be online and I encourage you all to listen in.

What Albania needs is an intelligent and forward-looking policy for securing skilled workers. This seems essential for the future development of the economy.

To achieve this, more perspectives for young people have to be created. With our long-standing development cooperation, Germany supports this process. Our focus lies on improving the living conditions in the country in the perspective of EU integration.

Furthermore - and the GIZ and KfW colleagues present here will provide you with more details – we have been implementing a variety of projects aiming at for example retaining and regaining professionals, strengthening the VET system, re-integrating Albanian experts who are returning to Albania, supporting SMEs and start-ups.

A particular support for SMEs is going to be provided through an advisory facility and guarantee schemes (via the Rural Credit Guarantee Foundation) to counter the economic impact of COVID-19.

I am delighted to take part in the opening of this conference and I wish you fruitful discussions on how to acquire – and keep – skilled workforce in Albania. Thank you very much.

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