now that technology and financial capital tend to move towards sectors, branches and countries that offer higher return on investment. in my personal opinion, but also based on a thorough analysis of the albanian economy, albania is a great destination in this respect. there is undoubtedly a high perceived risk in the global markets, not only for albania but also for all the countries in the region. we should, however, make our competitive advantages clear to the global markets and continue to work on the structural reform in order to release more development potentials and energy. another lesson drawn from the crisis is that consumption should be re - oriented from imported goods to domestic production. i have addressed it before too that the list of imports should get shorter through their substitution with domestic products, which has to be the priority of the new economic growth model in albania. to this purpose, time is ripe perhaps to give priority to the organization of financing schemes to support the traded sector. in more concrete terms, i refer to development financial institutions that support the agriculture sector, agro - business industry, extracting and processing industry, where the albanian economy offers competitive advantages. the bis central bankers ’ speeches economic benefits provided by these financial institutions to domestic production go beyond the low financing cost. these are specialized institutions and they are very well - acquainted with the emerging economies and the relevant sectors. in addition to providing financing, they are equipped with and offer technical and financial expertise to enhance the efficiency, transparency and management, and increase employment in the sectors they support ; to boost domestic production ; to increase employment and, ultimately, stimulate the balancing of external sector ’ s deficits. re - orienting the free labour force, capital and the private and public interest towards these advantages offers a simultaneous solution to a number of concerns facing the albanian economy. this re - orientation is the essence of the economic growth model and it should be the main objective of economic policies and stimulus at a local - level as well. the economic activity of fier region is a perfect example proving the success of the orientation towards the traded sector. fier has generally recorded growth above the average of the albanian economy, and it is ranked the second ( after tirana prefecture ) in terms of its contribution to real gdp growth and share in total gdp. at the same time, its current employment rate is about 4 % higher than the average employment in the albanian economy. these economic indicators provide evidence for the direct outcome of the competitive advantages that fier region offers compared to the other economic regions in albania

. this performance is grounded on a number of characteristics that guarantee the diversity in industry - level production at high tradability. in other words, fier offers the following competitive advantages : favourable geographical location : fier is situated in the western part of the republic of albania. in the antiquity, the ancient city of apollonia was the second largest city in the illyrian territory and the starting point of via egnatia, which connected rome and byzantium. this favourable geographical location has offered the city and the suburb areas a priority in the economic, commercial and cultural development since the antiquity. natural resources : favoured by its geographical location in the western lowlands, fier is rich in agriculture lands and natural resources, mainly oil and bitumen. industrial concentration and diversity : fier has always been and remains an area with diversified industrial production in oil extraction and processing, construction, agriculture and processing of agricultural products. the concentration of industrial and agricultural plants has, therefore, led to the concentration of human and financial capital. the district of fier has generated about 6. 1 % of total deposits in the banking system, while the amount of loans received accounts for only 28 % of total deposits at a district - level. this level of intermediation tells it all. it seems that the banking sector ’ s attention and support to this district is not in direct proportion to the capacities. this situation does not only attribute to the lack of attention by businesses but also by banks. it is imperative that businesses and banks sit together and discuss the opportunities for new ideas and projects of mutual benefit. in conclusion, i would like to bring another matter of concern to your attention. while preparing for this meeting, we faced difficulties in finding useful statistical information on the demographic and economic activity of fier district. taking into account the opportunities it has to offer, the reported statistics do not make this district distinguishable or comparable to the other regions inside or outside albania. it would be of interest, for instance, to have detailed information on the free capacities in agriculture and industry ; average profitability ; non - utilized labour market resources, the level of education and human capital ; unit labour costs, and capital and final product cost per unit ; bis central bankers ’ speeches prices of other factors of production, and so on. the lack of these indicators makes it hard, and even impossible, to evaluate and compare the business plans that may potentially be introduced to the financial institutions or other national or international partners. it should not be forgotten