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advent of the “<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>” require the engagement of a certain number<br />
of employees. Out of the total number (20.000) registered<br />
unemployed<br />
in <strong>Shkodra</strong> during 1997, it is estimated that the<br />
employment<br />
of 11.000 (due to the opportunities provided by the<br />
“<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>”), would spare to the central government an annual<br />
amount of 508 million Lek from the fund of economic aid and social<br />
assistance. A financial value four times bigger than the amount of the<br />
total revenues collected from the <strong>Shkodra</strong> customs during 1997 (this<br />
argument proves again that under the status of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> the state<br />
does not have lose anything from the removal of customs taxes)<br />
It is worth mentioning that besides of solving the<br />
unemployment problem right inside the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, the extension of<br />
market out of it, into the Albanian customs <strong>zone</strong>, will necessarily be<br />
accompanied by the growth of purchasing power which generates the<br />
investing process even outside the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, which means indirect<br />
new jobs outside <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
THE FREE<br />
ZONE OF SHKODRA NEEDS NO<br />
PREPARATORY EXPENSES<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, as a border inland port-city in between the Republic<br />
of Albania and Republic of Montenegro, has all the favours to be<br />
declared a commercial and industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>.<br />
Having no need to spend on building artificial borders,<br />
demanded by the regulators<br />
(enclosures using walls, wire or<br />
electronic<br />
fences), the city of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, in a natural way, is<br />
surrounded in all sides from the deep water “canal” of the three<br />
rivers<br />
(Buna, Drini and Kiri) and of the lake. This reminds us of the<br />
bordering<br />
of the "<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>" state of Singapore, etc. Under such<br />
geographical conditions, the entrance in and exit from the<br />
city will<br />
necessarily be done, as it is done today, through the crossing bridges<br />
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