TIRANA, APRIL 28, 2010     Today, the Directors of National Licensing Center (NLC) and the National Registration Center (NRC), Eneida Guria and Tomi Kola, provided a tour of the one-stop-shop business centers for Montenegrin government officials visiting Albania this week.

Dr. Petar Ivanovic, Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister and CEO of the Montenegro Investment Promotion Agency (MIPA), Mr. Lav Lajovic, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Systems, and Mr. Darko Konjevic, Executive Director of the Montenegro Business Alliance (MBA), requested to visit the centers to see how they are improving the business environment and reducing corruption and are exploring possibilities of replicating similar reforms in Montenegro.

Both NLC and NRC were established with support by the Millennium Challenge Corporation Albania Threshold Program, administered by USAID, as e-government initiatives that save investors valuable time in establishing business operations, while increasing transparency and reducing opportunities for corruption.

Albania’s business centers have been recognized by the World Bank “Doing Business” report, where the ranking for starting a business – directly related to the performance of the NRC and the NLC – has risen from a rank of 123 to 46 between the 2008 and 2010 reports.  Montenegro’s government has taken note of this and by visiting the centers it wishes to look at ways it can repeat the Albanian success.

The second stage of the MCC Albania Threshold Program (MCCA2) is a two-year, $15.7 million agreement between Albania and the United States, funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and administered by USAID, which aims to strengthen the rule of law, reduce corruption, and increase public oversight, thereby improving the business environment in Albania through IT solutions and technical assistance.