Complimentary speech by Mr.Shkëlqim Cani, GOvernor of the Bank of Albania, Exim Bank Regional Conference, Cavta, Croatia, 29 October 2001.

Honorable participants,

It was with great pleasure that some time ago I, as Governor of the Bank of Albania, accepted the invitation of Mr. Robson, chairman and president of EXIM Bank, to introduce Albania at this conference. Frankly speaking, when I received the invitation to hold this speech, my first thoughts were: Why was Albania chosen? It is just a small country, with an area of 28 000 km2 and with about 3.1 million inhabitants; poor and with problems of corruption and public order. Having these thoughts in mind, I remembered a sentence written from Mr. Robson: "Albania is an extremely interesting country."

I would add that Albania is also a place of many opportunities. Being an Albanian myself and living every day in Albania, with its many problems, I sometimes become pessimistic about its future and I have difficulties introducing these opportunities to foreigners. However, often I recall the beginning of the 90s and the change of the course of history for Albania and I become convinced that Albania indeed has developed considerably and has a lot
to offer to foreign investors. The attention of the EXIM Bank is proof of this fact. In the meeting I had with Mrs. Vanessa Weaver a year ago at the EXIM Bank, I did not expect that this bank would begin activities in Albania soon. Now, it seems this attitude is changing.

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