TIRANA (Reuters) – Albania’s government has granted strategic investor status to a company linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort on an uninhabited Mediterranean island that was once a military outpost.
The Balkan country’s Strategic Investment Committee, headed by Prime Minister Edi Ram, on December 30 accepted Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC’s proposal for a 45-hectare project on the small island of Sazan, which includes a planned investment of 1.4 billion euros (1.4 billion dollars).
In a written decision seen by Reuters on Thursday, the board said the project complied with strategic investment laws and the number of jobs required under the law, saying it would employ an estimated 1,000 people.
According to the law, the granting of strategic investment status enables companies to realize an investment project that is considered strategic within a strategic sector of the economy such as tourism.
“The form of state participation in this investment will be realized through the establishment of a joint legal entity,” the board announced, adding that it will also include the state Albanian Investment Corporation.
Reuters could not immediately reach Atlantic Incubation Partners for comment.
Last year, Kushner announced plans to build a tourist resort in Zvernec in southern Albania as part of a larger investment by his Affinity Partners in the Balkans, which also includes a project in Sazan, near the Albanian coast, and a project at a former military headquarters in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
Kushner, who was a top aide to Trump during his father-in-law’s first term as US president, founded the investment firm in 2021. Trump is set to be inaugurated for a second term on Tuesday.
The projects could boost local economies by attracting visitors, but the company faces opposition from critics who say they will harm the environment or, in the case of Belgrade, threaten sites of cultural significance.
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