The Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Policy approved on Tuesday the draft law for the ratification of the loan agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD), for the financing of the project "On the Public Policy to Support Renewable Capacity and Green Development of Albania".

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Adela Xhemajli announced that through this law, the financing of a loan in the form of budget support of Euro 120 million is possible.

"Following the successive blows that our country received due to the earthquake, the pandemic, and the global effects of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, they worked with donors, creditors, and international financial institutions for some budgetary support," said the deputy minister.

According to her, the objective of the program is to support the government's efforts to provide the stability of the sectors, the regulatory framework of the energy market as well as the increase of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Also, she pointed out, that the program aims to protect the environment and minimize climate change. Xhemajli said that this program has three pillars. “The first pillar supports the expansion of the tax base, the strengthening of mechanisms for mitigating risks from natural disasters, improving the sustainability of public investments from climate change, and increasing the effectiveness of social assistance programs.”

The second pillar, according to the deputy minister, supports the increase of renewable energy capacities and energy efficiency in the public sector. The third pillar supports new legislation to minimize environmental pollution as well as regulations to establish a monitoring, reporting, and verification mechanism for greenhouse gases.

“These reforms have already been approved and today we are here following these reforms to discuss and approve the loan. This loan is in two phases and the first phase, Euro 60 million is expected to be disbursed during 2024 and the rest in 2025. The loan is with soft terms," said Xhemajli.