S&T Country Report - Albania - WBC-INCO Net

3 Conclusions/Recommendations
In overall terms, good progress has been made by the Government of Albania and
the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) in setting out and beginning
implementation of new policies to support the growth and development of SMEs.
However, a stronger outreach and partnership with SMEs is needed, if the
opportunities for growth of the sector are to be maximized.
Until now, there are four clusters established and other sectors are under review in
order to facilitate the establishment of further 6-8 clusters in the agricultural and nonagricultural
sector (e.g. textile, olive oil industry, wine producing and trading).
The situation with technology or science parks in Albania is not satisfactory as there
are no parks in operation at the moment. The only existing innovation centre in
Albania is the Business Innovation Center (BIC), based in Tirana.
Two business incubators are operation in Albania, but there has been no progress in
the development of business incubators since 2003. There is no official strategy in
place for sustainable business incubator operation and a comprehensive review of
the incubator projects is still missing. The problem might be caused by lack of
cooperation and communication between key governmental players – the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) is responsible for SME development, while the
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is responsible for establishing and implementing
business incubators.
In general, progress is still too dependent on donor support, raising questions about
the medium-term sustainability of a number of programmes. Once these issues are
addressed, Albania has the potential to move quickly to the next stage of policy
development, where the focus will be on implementation more than elaboration.
Several issues related to policy implementation can be stated, main ones are relating
to:
• Strengthening of institutions, in particular those directly related to SME
development (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy, Department of
Business Promotion including the Sector of SME Policies) and other various
offices in different line ministries;
• Strengthening of communication and promoting effective dialogue between
the Government and the private sector;
• Coordinating the activities of the various bodies working to support SME
development;
• Reducing complexity and ensuring coherency and consistency in policy, laws,
regulations, procedures and support programs; and
• Avoiding unnecessary changes in laws, regulations and programs to facilitate
planning of investments. (Xhepa and Agolli, 2004)
page 26/ALB