
"The time of using free labor as a competitive advantage in the market has long died." This is what Prime Minister Edi Rama said at the inauguration of the Business House at Piramida. According to the head of the government, this is not related to the euro, while whoever understood it took measures to adapt.
"A painful subject. The situation of the fashion industry in Albania. This day would come and it is not simply related to the euro. Is wrong. It is a completely wrong approach to see this as a day brought about by the strengthening of the lek and the new situation this has created with the euro. No! This day would come because the time of using free labor as a competitive advantage in the market is long dead. And who has understood for a long time that that time is dead, in that industry has taken measures to adapt. Whoever did not understand it or who did not take the measures to adapt, today it is impossible to survive".
And under these conditions, says the Prime Minister, the government cannot use taxes to prolong the agony of an organism that cannot be brought back to life. But the solution according to him is adaptation.
"Under these conditions, asking the government to give you serums is a mistake. Why? Because there is no serum that can save you, and on the other hand, the government cannot use taxes to prolong the agony of an organism that cannot sustain it, cannot bring it back to life. It is a certain clinical death, but it is not without solution either for entrepreneurs or for people. The solution is to adapt! Change the game! To approach with clarity and with new forces a market that is different. It is enough to look at those who have done this, that fortunately today we are in the conditions where we can connect words with examples, so it is not something that we have discussed theoretically. And it's not even something that we've seen in other countries and we're saying come on do it here. No! It is something that there are actors of this industry who have done it and who are competitive today".
As for the women in Devoll who have lost their jobs due to the closure of the fashion business, Rama spoke about a new opportunity for them.
"As a government, we must look at what we will offer to those women in Devoll, in case a factory is closed because it could not adapt, could not introduce other elements to withstand this blow, then these people have a new opportunity and the new opportunity means to give you the opportunity to adapt to the market and to be involved in other activities of this economy. This is the new opportunity. It is not a new opportunity to give money from the budget to keep workers at home, while the factory is closed and bring this example, because this is happening today to an industry that did not manage to adapt to the challenge, but this could happen tomorrow to all of you who are here, everyone, without exception. It could happen tomorrow at the moment when we become an integral part of the European system, because the competition is no longer with each other, but the competition is with your peers according to sectors in a much longer history, in a much stronger tradition with much greater knowledge and others. Next, chambers of commerce. We have fallen round and round to the inevitable, because it is something that cannot be imposed all from above, and that is why we have waited for certain conditions to mature so that the community itself understands that this way of organization where everyone together with three friends makes their own Chamber, is the Bathora of entrepreneurship. We have done this with all things in the years of freedom, in search of democracy".