AIC: A Summer in Albania Working for Investment Capabilities Development

By Damian Galinsky

According to CID’s growth diagnostic findings on Albania, the country has the need to diversify and increase the complexity of the economic base.

As a Harvard Kennedy School student, I spent last summer as a CID intern working on the initial asset analysis and project selection for the Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC). The main objective of AIC is improving growth in Albania through the generation of the capability to identify, prepare, and develop vital projects for Albania.

My analysis was carried out by working across numerous departments -mainly within the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister Office- that aim to create AIC, meeting weekly to discuss recommendations and next steps. It also required me to pursue a gap analysis to determine projects or assets in which more information was needed. As an MPAID student, this represented a great opportunity for me to experience how to deal with the creation of a new institution and how to navigate across different departments searching for the appropriate information.

Working for AIC meant not only was I a part of a comprehensive working group analyzing and comparing different possible assets for AIC, but I also traveled around the country to assess many of the proposed project’s sites. Observing these locations and talking with locals regarding their vision was essential in making the final recommendations.