TIRANA (Albania), February 11 (SeeNews) – Serious problems with the public consultation process in Albania undermine the relations between the business community and public administration, the American Chamber of Commerce in the country said.

"Unfortunately, we notice that it has become very difficult to improve legislation in Albania. There are serious problems with the public consultation process. To put it simply: the public administration, with rare exceptions, does not respect the Law on Public Notification and Consultation," the president of AmCham in Albania, Enio Jaco said in a press release on Monday.

The law obliges the public body that drafts new legislation to give interested parties at least 20 working days to file their opinion, or, in the case of complex legislation, 40 days. According to AmCham, however, this does not happen.

Albania needs to improve its business climate in order to attract foreign investments, Jaco noted. “This is all the more important now that the Albanian economy is facing a contraction of investments through the completion of the two largest infrastructure projects - Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Devoll hydropower - as well as having to deal with the consequences of the earthquake,” he added.

AmCham represents 222 foreign and domestic businesses with trade ties to the U.S. The combined revenue of these businesses is $2.8 billion (3.1 billion euro) and represents 22% of the Albanian economy.

($ = 0.9143 euro)