Fatos Ibrahimi: Business development opportunities in Albania Speech by Mr Fatos Ibrahimi, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the Forum on Business Activity, with Governors and Managing Board of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, Tirana, 20 June 2011. *  *  *  Distinguished participants, It is a great pleasure for me to take the floor at this forum organized by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, which this time has on focus the promotion of development opportunities in Albania. Allow me say that the time of holding this forum coincides with the need to ensure the economy’s revival at home, after weathering the direct impacts of the global economic and financial crisis. The economy’s revival needs to become more sustainable, promoting the development of sectors that provide a competitive advantage by developing specific public policies and taking the public-private investment partnership to a new level. Allow me to dwell in more details on the contribution that the financial system and the banking sector can provide to support valuable business projects. The development and good financial position of the financial system in general and the banking sector in particular is a prerequisite for carrying out a successful financial intermediation activity. In fact, over the last decade, the banking sector has experienced a rapid development. Well-known European banking groups have entered the market, bringing about knowledge and best technologies, as well as enhancing competition in the interbank market.

In this environment, the focus of our policies has shifted towards building the foundations to transition into a high value-added, high income economy. The recently announced New Economic Model is intended to further accelerate Malaysia’s development to realize these goals by 2020. The broad thrust of the strategies is to provide an enabling environment that will generate an economy that is characterised by high productivity, efficiency and innovation with the private sector that is the main driver of growth. Given Malaysia’s proven record of economic flexibility for more than five decades, the strategy is also to transition to new areas of comparative advantage to sustain our growth momentum. As a Central Bank, our attention has focused on ensuring the successful transformation of the Malaysian financial system that will facilitate our national economic development agenda. An important aspect of this transformation is the advancement of Islamic finance as an integral part of the overall financial system in Malaysia that is fast becoming an international Islamic financial centre. Islamic finance has continued to demonstrate its resilience against the background of the current challenging international financial environment. The sustained and largely uninterrupted expansion of the global growth in Islamic finance has drawn significant international interest. The interest in Islamic finance is no longer just from Muslim nations but also from non Muslim communities. Financial centers such as London, France, Hong Kong and Singapore are increasing their efforts to enhance the development of Islamic Finance in their financial centers.