The Dialogue on Agriculture and Rural Development concluded its first day of work this afternoon, which focused on active listening to participants and identifying the most pressing issues facing the sector, followed by the organisation of roundtable discussions.

Prime Minister Edi Rama:
Having participated myself and listened to several others, I believe the way these roundtable discussions were conducted confirmed the value of such a meeting. It also allowed us to see and hear that the challenges facing the development of agriculture, livestock, and rural economic activity in general range from major conceptual issues to matters that, under normal circumstances, shouldn’t be problems at all, yet have become significant obstacles.

And here, I’m referring, for example, to the issue of legalising production structures — a problem that affects a segment of producers and one which carries serious implications. It prevents producers from being able to get loans or financial assistance, whether from European financing or domestic sources.

Therefore, we must take immediate responsibility for this and ensure that all local government structures understand the urgency of submitting all legalisation procedures to the State Cadastre Agency by the end of August. Local government units now have the authority to carry out the preparatory phase of the legalisation process.

From this specific issue to broader systemic matters, there are many challenges, but I believe we can emerge from this with a new approach. However, I must emphasise: a shift in mindset is essential. The government’s approach must change, the ministry’s approach must change, the approach of local authorities must change, and the agencies involved must become far more proactive in this process.

Another very clear issue, one that connects to a broader reform, is the need to unify the VAT rate. This is very clear, and in fact, the Minister of Finance has already prepared the necessary framework. On the other hand, when it comes to financing based on production units, this is something we’ve spoken about frequently, repeated time and again over the years — but have yet to implement. Now is the time to act.

Likewise, the tax authorities must immediately engage in a preliminary awareness campaign before taking enforcement actions, such as seizing all un-invoiced milk and other un-invoiced food products.

Following a short awareness period — no longer than two weeks — the seizure of all non-invoiced food goods must begin, starting with perishable fresh products. At the same time, the activities of the National Food Authority (AKU) must be immediately suspended.

We’ve discussed launching a dedicated program to support the creation of shepherd shelters and open-air farms, as I’ve seen, there is a clear willingness for this. We need to generate critical mass, and we can do it by promoting a form of livestock farming that is directly connected to nature. The term ‘organic’ has become fashionable, but this would be truly nature-based. Likewise, field-based farms are entirely feasible, but they require our support.

In a few days, together with the Rector, we will present the new academic offer of the University of Agriculture of Tirana (UBT), and I invite all of you to attend if your time allows.

This new academic offering is the result of a consolidation effort at UBT: out of 31 scattered study programs, we have merged and streamlined them into 9 consolidated programs. These 9 programs will offer a completely different level of quality, providing students with a much stronger education and a more competitive degree, one that will enable them to become future leaders in rural development.

And the issue raised here is the need for a dedicated livestock support package; it must be carefully studied. Once ready, we should invite all interested livestock farmers to gather in Çajup for the official launch of this package and to make it a concrete reality.

This brings me to the next point: exceptional work has been done by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Entrepreneurship, and thanks to the government’s persistence, a credit line has been established through the Bank of Albania, worth €250 million.

While this credit line is officially intended for all small and medium-sized enterprises, its primary focus and the main reason for its creation was agriculture.

Now that this line of credit is in place, it must be strongly utilised. That requires a high level of awareness among farmers, as well as a clear message to second-tier banks, which have already signed on to offer loans at rates ranging from 0.5% to 2%.

We have, for example, the Municipality of Roskovec, which has taken steps in this direction — but such examples remain too few. This must become a priority.

In parallel with this credit line, there is also the ‘Mountain Package’, which is equally at risk of going unused if we don’t unite our efforts to spread information, align with stakeholders, and take an active role in identifying and engaging the right capacities in this process.

I want to make one thing clear: we are in a position — in terms of time, conditions, and opportunities — to view government and governance differently. At the same time, we must reimagine the country’s potential in every area where we need to expand our capacity to participate in the development process.

Development cannot be reduced to a cycle of taxes, budget subsidies, and demands on the state budget. These are only one part of the equation.

Every penny we spend from the state budget must be turned into value — into profit for the country’s economy — not just fed into a perpetual loop of collecting taxes, spending funds, and failing to generate new wealth by activating many other untapped potentials.

And, let me add — I forgot to mention earlier — the issue of fuel subsidies was raised again. I believe it’s time we reconsider the fuel support scheme. But more than just reviewing the scheme, we are now preparing to intervene more directly in the fuel sector itself.

The government will be very active in creating the conditions and frameworks for cooperation with the business sector and economic actors to increase incomes, not the government’s revenues, but the incomes of the people. We need to build a new process, which we are currently preparing, in which the government will be an active player in the oil sector.

This means we want to intervene to establish a new price equilibrium for consumers.

We have studied this extensively, and we see it as fully feasible and achievable. I believe that within this year, the government will participate in the import and distribution of oil, working together with all other stakeholders. We will make life easier for them by acting as a guarantor for the import and supply of fuel oil.

We have an excellent example in Cërrik, which serves as a model in this work and has brought forward a very interesting proposal to integrate artificial intelligence into this process. We must jointly commit and I emphasise, the government, relevant local units, and the business community, to building biogas systems. These require a considerable initial investment but prove to be highly effective in the long run.

Have faith, I certainly do, that we will make a significant part of these initiatives a reality. Above all, we will succeed in addressing the small issues that may seem minor when they affect others but are major when they affect you personally. We must be much closer and far more active in resolving them.

It is unacceptable that an agricultural enterprise should remain for one and a half, two, three, or even four years unable to access financing, credit, or projects simply because the barn is not legalised or because there is no property certificate for a particular structure.

Thank you very much!