"Work and live where your heart is" is the Albanian government's invitation to immigrants living and working in Greece, to rediscover themselves with new opportunities in the homeland they left decades ago.
For the first time, the Job Fair opened in Athens today, with the participation of hundreds of Albanian companies from various fields, many of them investment leaders, employment agencies, business chambers, IT entrepreneurs, and innovators who will present and explain employment offers to compatriots.
Prime Minister Edi Rama was at the Fair today, where he visited all the stands and met and talked with company representatives. Rama also spoke about the concrete opportunities, regarding the salaries offered, the job vacancies, and the perspective that the enterprises foresee in the future.
"This is the part where we have placed all the Albanian companies, which have come to make their bids. We have the hotel-tourism, agriculture, construction, infrastructure, and even Rinas airport has come to present its bids. Each of them is equipped with contracts," explained Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku.
"There are all the tourist and hotel offers. We have over 40 participants from the hotel-tourism industry, both from the territory and from the coast. They have come with contracts, with offers, with proposals for direct salaries," informed the Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro.
Meanwhile, various entrepreneurs spoke about the opportunities they offer in their companies.
"We are an olive oil company. We have come with a complete offer for labor. We really need labor. This year we could process 20% more of the olive product, but due to the lack of labor, the olives remained unharvested and we have come out with higher costs. We have increased salaries," said the company manager, as another entrepreneur.
"The same goes for the winery. We really need people. I think our salaries are better than here. Of course, it's hard work because the vineyards are on terraces, on hills. They're better than here because they're in their own home," he said.
The Prime Minister stopped at the stand of one of the successful companies in the field of agriculture, which offered competitive salaries and had just received the first requests from interested parties.
"It is one of the companies we are proud of. We just finished a fair in Germany for organic plants and it is processing the product and has received the first requests for employment today," said Minister of Agriculture Anila Denaj.
"Farmers' salaries exceed 1500-2000 euros per year, as they are seasonal jobs. Our job is to give farmers a wider range of guidance on what to do," said the leading entrepreneur.
Prime Minister Rama said that there will be other fairs in the future. "The idea is to have a spring fair, an autumn fair in Greece and then we will do it in Italy. But now that we have the conviction that with salaries we are better than here. I believe that in 1 and a half, 2 years we will be more or less like Italy," he said.
The Job Fair, which will remain open throughout the day, until the early hours of the evening, is organized into panels, dedicated to different fields, specifically: Construction and Transportation; Teachers for Albania; Economy, Employment & Family; Hospitality & Tourism; Agriculture and Rural Development; Municipalities, Investment & Employment. According to the fields, the panels will be led by the respective ministers, Belinda Balluku, Ogerta Manastirliu, Blendi Gonxhja, Mirela Kumbaro, Anila Denaj and Arbjan Mazniku. (A2 Televizion)
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