It’s a pleasure to gather here today and to be honest I watched the video about the social experiment that you did and it felt customized for me because I am the head of electricians in the Republic of Albania and to be honest, I’m not going to start it with the word that we usually find from our colleagues, from consultants, but I’m going to start with an experience that I had just a few months ago when a guy from Lushnja sent me a message asking me to help him get a job in OSHEE. He was 23 years old, graduated from the vocational school for electricians, and if he couldn’t find an opportunity, he’d have to move away from home, or go to Tirana, or go abroad. I got in touch with the guy myself and he became the reason why we at OSHEE started a process and a program for the employment of young people who have graduated from vocational schools in fields that fit this huge company where about 7 thousand boys, girls, men and women work.

To be fair, our call had an age limit without being discriminatory, for 18 to 25-year-olds, precisely to create a fusion between all the technicians we have, but who are today about 50 years old on average, with a new flow, with new blood for 303 jobs. About 210 have been filled with this age frequency, that is from 18 to 25, and now we are going to launch a new call for 25 to 30-year-olds.

Today, it is very important to understand that our country has reached the maturity of the economic market. Today, there are well-defined sectors that are ready to receive young men and women coming out of professional schools, such as tourism, which is already consolidated. We passed the test last year with more than 10 million visitors. My friend and colleague Mirela Kumbaro as hostess, because of her portfolio of 14 million visitors in 2024, who must be served by the tourism industry that will have the first year of the show, because the past year for me and for all of us was a general rehearsal.

On the other hand, a consolidated sector is that of agriculture. Agriculture has always been important for our country, it holds a significant part and percentage of the domestic gross production, but on the other hand, agriculture is not what it used to be. Today we don’t work in the garden, we have to join forces. Today, in a growing market, where exports have reached more than 500 million per year and with a clear goal of reaching 1 billion exports by 2030, livestock farmers must unite in the form of an agricultural corporation to produce larger quantities of the same species. So it is no longer possible to have different types of tomatoes on the market, and it is no longer possible to have different types of beans on the market because companies and collection points need large quantities for the Balkan market, but also for Europe. During the past year, the products from the area of Divjaka and the whole part of Myzeqe penetrated the supermarkets of Switzerland. I mention the Swiss supermarkets because they have even higher requirements than the European Union itself in terms of organic products.

Undoubtedly, a very consolidated and growing market is the aviation market. We have an international airport in Tirana, an international airport in Kukës, and an international airport in its final stage, that of Vlora. An airport, which from the operational standpoint aims to be the largest in the Balkans in terms of accommodation volume. A new industry that has already exploded, and each of you by just looking at the figures that we publish from time to time, could understand that the International Airport of Tirana is in first place in terms of traffic flows that land and take off from Tirana, while the Albanian Air Navigation Service has been in first place for several months in terms of quantity and volume of processing overflights in the Albanian territory.

I can count many other fields, such as information technology, which is the focus of all young people today, and others that are developing in a constant and consolidated way. What do we need? The Albanian government has announced the development of human capacities as a priority for 2024 and the focus for the entire government cabinet, as requested by the Prime Minister. You may remember the saying “There are jobs, but there are no professionals”, which everyone initially laughed at, but today it is a tangible reality. The market has jobs to offer, the market has demand, and what we lack are professionals and that is why we are here today.

We are here today to talk about professional education, which is one of the most important instruments to be successful in all those sectors that I mentioned. In all the sectors that right now attract human resources. But on the other hand, we need qualified human resources. The tourist industry cannot afford to wait and take young people with a general high school degree, without any knowledge of tourism, and integrate them within its structures. It would be much easier for hoteliers to take students trained in hotel-tourism professional schools and integrate them immediately since the economic development of our country is very fast.
So, to not repeat what Olta said and not wanting to repeat what was said yesterday, I just want to remind everyone that obviously, we have done a good job in terms of professional education. From 2015, when 12.2 million were dedicated to the State Budget, today we managed to dedicate 33 million to the 2024 budget. Should more be done? Of course!
Something that characterizes us, something that characterizes Prime Minister Rama and his cabinet is that we are never complacent. We think we have done good work, but we have not done enough and we need to do much more. That is why we have this focus on vocational education and on the accommodation that vocational education students should have. I lead, as a political leader, a remote district. Diber. One of the countries with the most extensive and complicated territory, but which has an extraordinary tradition in terms of professional education. There is a vocational school in the center of Peshkopia, which has always been populated, but what it lacks is a dormitory. A dormitory that was once functional, but today is not able to accommodate students who have to spend four years of their lives there, away from their families at a young age.

And the same thing happens in Cërrik. I visited with Olta and Minister Denaj some time ago the professional school of Cërrik, which I urge you all to visit, as it is a model school in its entirety, in terms of laboratories, in terms of academic staff there. But, obviously, the dormitory left a lot to be desired. Not to say I wouldn’t class it as habitable.

The fact that we have launched a broad process to identify all the infrastructure of vocational education, to identify all the laboratories, dormitories and everything else that should be at the service of the students, because we can preach all day and say that the market there are jobs, that you have to leave the general education and come to vocational education, but if the infrastructure is not right, if the school, the classrooms, the laboratories, the dormitories are not what they should be for the children, why would these children choose to go there?
Vocational education has always been biased. I remember my time as a student in “Qemal Stafa” and we were close to the Polytechnic and there was always a difference in perception between the students of the Polytechnic and those of “Qemal Stafa” who were practically in the same neighborhood, but when the time to choose a University came and they excelled and became the next engineers, everything changed. It is the same with vocational education today. We talk, we want to attract students, but they think it is better to go to a general high school because they will have the opportunity to become lawyers or economists. But the time has come for you, young men and women, to have the opportunity to analyze the market. To know where can you contribute more, and if you go to a vocational school for electricians, tomorrow you will have the opportunity to become an engineer, to study electronics, to study mechanics, and even today to study advanced sciences such as information technology.

Just a few weeks ago, I met one of the most prestigious academies in England in terms of aviation, the preparation of the troops that serve in aviation, starting from ground services, which we also call ai hosts and hostesses. It has chosen Albania, in cooperation with ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, as they see it as a consolidated growing market. They have chosen to establish in Albania, together with the Albanian Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, one of the most important European academies, which will be financed by ICAO with 1 euro per passenger. One euro per passenger, during the year you understand that only with tourism visitors we are talking about over 14 million euros which will be available to this academy that will be located in Vlora. We chose Vlora because the newest aviation hub will be developed there. We have chosen Vlora also with the expectation of having a professional school, a professional aviation academy, where all the simulators will be accommodated since that is how they work until they manage to break into an airport, due to security conditions, and to the dormitory that must be customized for these students. Thus we can refer to many new and good practices which we are raising all together with a focused attention precisely in this very important field of professional education.

Today, we have 30 schools from Kukës to Saranda, some of which have benefited from government and donor investments, but this will now be extended to every nucleus where we have vocational schools. It should also be noted that vocational schools are also part of the government’s policy for the revitalization of rural areas. Where we want the inhabitants not to leave or on the other hand, identify what characteristics these rural areas have and how these rural areas can be used as real economic nuclei and not only based on agriculture.

I would say, the fact that there are so many young people here today, and this is even more important because you are being talked about, you will benefit from this sector, you will benefit from this government policy, shows that we are already on the right track. It shows that we now have a clear plan and that we have to do our best, we have to do more for vocational education, for the infrastructure of vocational education and the accommodation, the private sector that is here with us, and the representatives of all the organizations that contribute in this field, but above all, you, the beneficiaries. So it shows that we all understand that the labor market needs vocational training. Human capital is the most valuable and important asset of the Republic of Albania, and truly, if we engage, we know how to do the best for our country and for everyone.
Thank you for your attention and good work today in this very important conference.