6 June 2019: ICC Albania ‘’ABC (Anti-corruption Business Coalition) Project’’ earns the ICC National Committee Initiative of the Year first prize in Europe and third place globally for introducing a set of solutions and tools in Albania that aim improvement of the investment climate through addressing fight against corruption.
This project focused on unleashing corporate integrity as an area that requires more engagement from stakeholders, such as private and public sectors, aimed at the same time the improvement of the investment climate in Albania.
The ABC project framework is designed in three pillars; first pillar aim the creation of an advocacy platform on integrity between private and public sectors and other stakeholders, second pillar grants technical assistance to public institutions in developing instruments based on best international practices in addressing communication with private sector in integrity field and third pillar provides grounds for raising awareness in this field through either capacity building activities or promotional or discussion events.
The ABC project is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Albania and has been implemented by ICC Albania on a cross border partnership with ICC Netherlands.
H.E. Guusje Korthals Altes, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Albania, said: ‘’I am very pleased that with the support of this embassy, this project was initiated and got to a good start. Also for me, it has been one of the more interesting projects as one can see how the ABC-project is slowly but very certainly rooting in the business community in Albania.’’
Ilir Daci, Chairman of ICC Albania, said: ‘’We hope this project will evolve to a groundbreaking opportunity for the Albanian business community to engage more in purpose-driven collective action and to advance on the path of sustainable development.’’
Ardita Seknaj, Secretary General of ICC Albania, who directs and implements the project accepted the awards on behalf of ICC Albania at Permanent Heads Meetings, which took place on 28-29 May at ICC Global Headquarters in Paris.
On receiving the awards, Ms Seknaj said, “We feel happy for the recognition of this project by our colleagues. However, this project would not have been successful at this point if it were not for the good collaboration we established both locally with the Dutch Embassy and other stakeholders and on cross border terms with ICC Netherlands as our main partner abroad and ICC Belgium lately.”
The ICC National Committee Initiative of the Year Award is an annual award that recognizes initiatives taken by individual national committees to improve the way they work, serve ICC members, raise awareness on an ICC priority issue, and/or that lead to positive changes in the policy and regulatory environment. Projects or activities carried out by national committees in the last 12 months, which embodied ICC’s mission to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere, were considered for the award. The grand prize winners were announced in Paris on the occasion of ICC’s celebration of its 100-year anniversary at the end of May.