China increases cooperation with Albania

The article says that while the U.S. remains focused on criminal justice and other reforms, China is focusing on development. As a result, despite being across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, Albania is as close to China in many respects as it is to its leading trading partners, by even beating to it neighbors like Italy and Greece.

Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta is quoted by Forbes of saying that history will help Albania to have a more pragmatic relation with China. Forbes reminds that Meta was in Washington recently for the inauguration of Donald Trump, and that he was in Beijing, in October last year, signing deals with PowerChina, a construction conglomerate that has irrigation and other projects in Albania.

Forbes writes that China is winning over Europeans as regards trade deals, since between Albania and the EU there are plenty of regulations as obstacles. The article adds that when Balkan countries will join the EU, Beijing will have them as support.

So what is China doing in Albania exactly? In March, Canada’s Banker’s Petroleum announced the sale of oil exploration and production rights to affiliates of China’s Geo-Jade Petroleum for a price of 384.6 million euros. Banker’s started to exploit the Albanian oil fields of Patos-Marinze and Kucova in 2004, and since 2014 it has been the largest foreign company in the country. A month later, China Everbright and Friedmann PacificAsset Management announced the acquisition of Tirana International Airport in a 10 year concession deal. Though a second Albanian airport is scheduled to open for service soon, Tirana will remain the most important transport hub. It is one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe, with annual passenger rates rising from 600,000 in 2005 to two million in 2015, the article says.

Forbes adds that Albania is also part of a pipeline project connecting Caspian Sea natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline is supposed to bring in around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan through a 211 kilometer pipeline in Albania where it will cross the Adriatic Sea to Italy. To get this done, a number of dirt roads need to be paved; bridges need to be modernized. So much of Albania’s countryside has not changed since the days of communist rule.

|China comes with less red tape…and much less foreign intrigue. Albania’s not complaining”, Forbes says.

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