albanian tourism, of this important sector that presently contributes by 9 % to the country ’ s gross domestic product. currently the figure of 1 million tourists a year has become a reality and its perspective goes even beyond, if we continue to pay necessary economic, social and institutional attention to tourism. beyond such impressive figures, the tourism development is translated also into a constant improvement of albania ’ s image as a country under progress, of values it possesses and provides, of increased level of employment and revenues for many areas and strata of population, as provision of values of many environmental, historical and cultural, geographic and curative, economic and social potentials, etc. notwithstanding this optimistic situation, we should not forget that albania is a mediterranean country, found in one of the most developed tourism areas of the world, in one of the areas of the largest variety of types of tourism, and therefore in one of the areas where competition in tourism service is in its peak, where many of the countries of the region, with a very long tradition in this sector, have turned it into a real tourism industry. our objectives to improve rapidly and to solve qualitatively the problems of road infrastructure, water and electricity supply, sewerages, etc., should be attached to improved quality of services and implementation of standards, completion of regulatory and urban plans for all tourism areas, variety of types of tourism and tourism products. besides the coastline tourism, which is dominant, the mountainous and rural tourism, cultural and historical tourism, archaeological and nature tourism, curative and sports tourism, massive and elite tourism should be also developed. all these are going to make the sector and the activity directly or indirectly related to tourism absorb more investments and loans, making banks, domestic and foreign businesses, private and institutional investors, etc., more interested and guaranteed for success. you should be convinced that the banking business is observing you attentively, expecting a signal, a sparkle which is mostly at your hand. the standards are indispensable and should be respected. therefore, i would invite the local government, the business community, the individuals of saranda to be oriented towards the future, towards tourism and urban development models, similar to those of advanced countries. let me conclude by thanking you once more for your hospitality.

ardian fullani : albania – sustaining macroeconomic stability in a challenging external environment speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the seminar “ albania – sustaining macroeconomic stability in a challenging external environment ”, tirana, 4 march 2010. * * * dear mr bell, dear minister, dear participants, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to this seminar and to attend its proceeding. this seminar and its topics are very coherent and dwell upon very important issues for the economic development of albania and of all emerging economies. they explicate the topics that the economic authorities are faced with, as a consequence of macro and microeconomic side effects of the global financial crisis of the financial markets and the real economy. generally, the policies undertaken by authorities in the light of the country - specific conditions proved to be successful. fiscal expansion and easing of monetary conditions according to respective needs turned out to be successful in avoiding the turning of the crisis into depression, like that of 1930. in albania ’ s case, these stimuli helped preventing the economic events that characterize the financial crisis and mitigated the adverse effects that the global economy gave on the albanian economy. though the crisis effects continue to exert their influence on the world - wide economy, it ’ s time to reassess the situation and the economic policies. generally, the current period in the world economy coincides with the correction stage, which is reflected in a lower economic growth and new balances in production, trade, services, financial intermediation, exchange rate and household budgets. in itself, these new balances do not represent a new stage or evolution of the crisis. they represent a sustainable equilibrium under new circumstances. distortions in financial markets and lack of rationality in consumer behaviour are assessed as the main triggers of the crisis, because their level during the bubble blowing were not in line with the long - term sustainable equilibrium of the economy. consequently, the idea to continue the economic stimuli, to speed up production, consumption and financial intermediation at the same rates and with the same instruments would be similar to the financial markets stimuli during the pre - crisis period. in other words, pursuing the same policies under current conditions and the new equilibrium would cause major economic and financial imbalances over the medium run, which would damage the economy rather than helping it. precisely from this viewpoint, it is important that we now start to think about and cooperate for finding and implementing policies that would guarantee macroeconomic