Gov't announces new bill to quit international arbitrage body

At a time when prime minister Edi Rama has announced that the government is looking into the possibility of quitting the  International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, ICSID, justice minister, Ulsi Manja presented a bill today, which, according to him, addresses this issue and has been for years in the making along with international partners.

"This bill will create a friendly business environment in Albania. It enables the government to attract investments, domestic and foreign," he said.

The aim of this bill is to prevent disputes from being settled by a body which has ordered the Albanian government to pay hundreds of millions of euros in compensation, in an attempt to settle disputes in the country.

Albania could quit arbitrage body, PM warns

Albanian PM, Edi Rama has considered a decision by International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to Italian entrepreneur, Francesco Becchetti 110 million euros in compensation to be"outrageous", while threatening that Albania might quit this body in response.

According to the Albanian PM, "a criminal who has been given a 17 prison sentence for fraud against the Albanian state managed to succeed with a court with which we will start to cause problems, starting next week".

In 2015, Becchetti claimed that the Albanian government, led by socialist PM, Edi Rama, unlawfully seized his assets, including a TV station. According to him, his media outlet was critical of the government.

In February 2022, Becchetti was sentenced to 17 years in prison in absentia by a court in Tirana on charges of money laundering in relation to a failed hydroelectric scheme. UK authorities have not agreed to extradite him to Albania.