As part of its alignment with European Union standards, Albania will launch a scanning and review process for 42 international trade and investment agreements. This news was confirmed by Chief Negotiator Majlinda Dhuka during a report to the Parliament.
Dhuka announced that Albania has launched a broad review process for 42 trade and investment agreements to ensure their compliance with European Union standards. This process was made public after questions from opposition MP Eno Bozdo, who expressed his concern about economic relations with countries outside the bloc, focusing in particular on the agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
MP Bozdo demanded an account of the competitiveness condition, stating:
"I asked you about the agreement with the United Arab Emirates. You emphasized that bilateral economic investment agreements should be included in the EU framework. This avoids the EU condition, which is competition. 4 pieces of Albania have been made available to the Arabs. Will you change this agreement?"
For her part, Majlinda Dhuka argued that this is an inevitable and technical step on the path to membership, responding:
"We have drafted a plan that foresees the review of 42 agreements. It is normal, it has happened in every country before becoming a member of the EU to align with EU trade and investment policies. Each agreement will be analyzed one by one, when the analysis of each agreement is completed, we will have findings on the agreements that need to be changed or not."
This scanning process will be crucial in determining whether current strategic contracts will remain in force or will be subject to modifications to adapt to the rules of the European common market.
