ALBANIA’S CHALLENGES OF INTER-REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Albania's socio-economic transformation after the 1990s, demographic changes and the shift of the economy to developed centers, migration (internal and external), and the decentralization process of decision-making have had their impact on regional and interregional development of our country. Albania's competitive advantage towards integration into the European Union is the economic geography and the ability our country to absorb foreign investment. Typical example is the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, part of the Southern Gas Corridor, one of the largest energy policy projects in the EU. For our country is both a potential and a challenge for inter-regional development. The TAP trace through Albania is about 215 kilometers in the territory and 37 km in the maritime part of the Albanian territorial waters of the Adriatic Sea. The Western Balkan is considered as a strategic region in the transit of energy to Europe. Albania as part of the region should look at energy cooperation as a bridge to cross-regional cooperation. Pipeline policy consists mainly in the development of a whole industry supporting infrastructure industry, bringing investment and capital in construction, road, telecommunications, etc. Cross-regional co-operation should be based on medium-term and long-term regional strategies where the priorities of individual countries with regional impact priorities should be optimized and harmonized, where the spill-over effect becomes greater for all economic sectors. The deepening of cooperation and the real concretization of regional and European integration requires (i) vision; (ii) strategies and (iii) establishment of relevant institutions at the regional level.