Germany Pledges Support to Albania’s Anti- C19 Combat

TIRANA – Germany will back Albania to cope with the coronavirus crisis through financial support, has pledged Ambassador Peter Zingraf. He made the promise to the Minister of Finance and Economy, Anila Denaj, on behalf of his government on Monday, said a press release.
It was unveiled that the financial support would amount to 10.56 million euros to serve the response in a focused way to the Covid-19 crisis and to alleviate the social and economic consequences of the pandemic in Albania.
The focus of the planned measures will be oriented towards strengthening training and sustainable growth for good jobs as well as towards the development of the private sector.
“I am pleased that we are standing by our Albanian partners even during the coronavirus crisis,” Ambassador Peter Zingraf was quoted as saying. “The economic and social consequences of the pandemic are a great challenge – we support Albania in this challenge. But we must not forget that the risk of coronavirus for health but also for the Albanian economy still exists. That is why we must all contribute, through wearing a mask, keeping our distance and through hygiene, to stop the virus from spreading further.” Specifically, micro, small and medium enterprises in the field of agriculture, tourism and other sectors (digitalization) will be supported in the framework of German assistance through counseling and financial grants in dealing with the crisis.
Small and medium-sized enterprises will also be assisted by expanding guarantees. For this purpose, among other things, 6.7 million euros will be made available from the amount of 10.56 million euros of the Rural Credit Guarantee Foundation of the Federal Government supported by KfW.
The financial support will also be used to implement C19-specific measures in existing drinking water and sanitation projects as well as waste management and recycling.
With the provision of financial support, the more than 30-year cooperation between Germany and Albania will be further strengthened.
It was specified that the funds will be made available through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in the period 2020/2021. 6.7 million euros will be implemented through the German Bank for Reconstruction (KfW) and 3.8 million euros through the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in cooperation with Albanian partner institutions./argumentum.al