ICC News

Tirana, 22 November 2017: ICC Albania and Albanian Association of Banks (AAB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economy organized a technical workshop on COSME programme, an EU financial instrument available for SMEs, which took place on the 22nd of November 2017 at Xheko Imperial Hotel. The workshop was organized with the aim of providing financial institutions in Albania with the unique opportunity to become an EU financial intermediary. This event was opened by Ms. Evisi Kopliku – COSME National Coordinator at the Ministry of Finance and Economy. While addressing her welcome remarks Ms. Kopliku said: ‘’COSME is an EU

To read, click Recommendation Paper. Tirana, 15 November 2017: Representatives from the factoring industry in Albania raised some relevant recommendations to authorities and other stakeholders on required actions needed to improve this sector. These recommendations have been prepared by the representatives of the ICC Albania Commission on International Trade and Investment based on the results of the survey conducted to banks and factoring companies, in cooperation with EBRD, during the period July-August 2017. Factoring is considered to be a product designed to offer financing to SMEs, but is also available for other businesses and as an instrument available to finance trade. SMEs are

Tirana, 7 November 2017: EU delegation in Albania opens public consultations with private sector, civil society and other stakeholders in the framework of preparing the Albania 2018 Annual Report. The first consultation meetings were held on the 6th and 7th of November 2017.  Business organizations representatives were present at the dedicated session about the private sector and shared their positions and comments on the developments overseen during the last year in competition policy, financial sector development, public procurement, taxation etc. ICC Albania remains available to collect any opinion and comments from the business community on the related chapters; Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

20 September 2017, Antwerp: A new paper from Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), an initiative of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), reports on the role that landlords and property owners can play as intermediaries in the counterfeit or pirated goods supply chain if they lease their premises to those involved in trademark counterfeiting, copyright piracy or other forms of illicit trade. BASCAP presented the new paper, Measures to Engage Landlords in the Fight against Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Best Practices for Landlords, Governments and Enforcement Agencies today at the Europol IP Crime Conference in Antwerp, Albania. According to the paper,

The 10th World Chambers Congress got underway in Sydney, Australia today bringing together over 1,000 chamber and business leaders from 100 countries for discussion on some of the world’s most pressing challenges. We’ve been covering activities via our Congress app and more widely on social media but here we’ve picked five highlights to sum up an action-packed first day: 1. A royal welcome for participants His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales addressed participants in a recorded video message, saying: “It is increasingly encouraging to know that the mission of promoting responsible business is meeting with an ever more ready audience

19 September 2017, London: The Earth Security Report 2017 was launched today, providing a roadmap for global business to align its growth to the demands for social inclusion and environmental security that are defining the countries in which they operate. Endorsed by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) as a global outreach partner and supported by HSBC Bank and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, the report underlines the need for business to change its approach to align the impact of its operations to the needs of the societies in which they work. The report measures the ‘perfect storm’ of environmental, social

5 September 2017, Tirana: Supporting private sector competitiveness by facilitating SME access to finance and by fostering an enabling business environment, Bank of Albania and the EBRD in partnership with ICC Albania and Factor Chain International held a factoring workshop in Tirana this week. Discussions also focused on ways to support domestic and international trade. In their opening statements, Bank of Albania Deputy Governor, Natasha Ahmetaj, and EBRD Head of Albania, Matteo Colangeli, expressed the importance of factoring as a useful tool for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access finance that enables their growth and contributes to the development of the

18/07/2017, New York, United Nations: SDG Business Forum 2017 High-level Political Forum, United Nations Business statement This statement is issued by leading business organizations, private sector institutions and networks that support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the world as listed at the end of this statement. Business supports the SDGs as a framework of universally applicable goals to tackle the world’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in the lead-up to 2030 and beyond. Business drives innovation, provides a source of finance and constitutes an engine for economic development and employment. Strong and visionary business leadership is

13/07/2017, Trieste, Italy: Italy hosted on the 12th of July 2017 the fourth Western Balkans summit of the Berlin Process in Trieste. The region’s six countries and several EU member states (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Slovenia, UK) representatives of the EU and International Finance Institutions reviewed current progress and discussed a broad agenda in attempt to go further with regional cooperation, increase coherence and deepen economic integration. This summit concluded by setting up measures in several areas of cooperation, in particular in the connectivity agenda, which is and will remain the core element of the process and in the integration process. This process

His Excellency the President of ECOSOC, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, As the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, it’s a great honor to be invited to deliver remarks at the start of the High-Level Political Forum’s review of SDG 9. Since their inception, I have consistently said that the SDGs should be known within the global business community as the “BDGs”, the “Business Development Goals”. And the reason for this is because the SDGs represent a clear economic imperative. Their achievement would mean greater productivity, increased employment, and stronger economic growth. In short,