Prime Minister Edi Rama held a meeting with entrepreneurs today, where he stated that the construction sector is being framed within accusations of ties to crime, which he finds despicable and unacceptable. Rama addressed all the allegations thrown at this sector that imply money laundering. "For all those who bark, in whatever language they bark, from Albanian to English and other languages, and who rush to crystallize this transformation of Albania and Tirana as a transformation of crime, today as we speak, this project has 350 apartments ordered solely by the Albanian diaspora, and they are ordered and not paid for in cash, but through banks," said the head of the executive. "Let's have a two-sided discussion: on one side, what has been done so far, and on the other, a project that is an ambition for the future and reflects a construction sector that brings many benefits to Albania, but unfortunately, like everything in this country that is attacked when it shows success, hit when it appears as change, covered in mud when it emerges as a sign of the future, it is a sector that continuously receives blows, attacks, mud, hurting a large number of its protagonists," declared Rama. "I do not dispute that in this sector, as in any other sector, both in Albania and elsewhere, there are problems. The problems here in Albania are certainly sharper in some cases than in some other countries. I do not dispute that not everything in the construction sector is pure and clear as daylight and valued like the sweat of tens of thousands of people who give life to this sector. But to frame this evident success of Albania, this transformation that the construction sector makes visible as soon as someone arrives in Albania, within the framework of crime, is something despicable and unacceptable. Undoubtedly, these apartments cannot be bought by a poor person or someone living on a low or average salary. However, from the construction of these apartments, the municipality of Tirana and municipalities that build such projects receive a tax that is 3% just for the housing fund, to build and invest in social housing schemes. So, these constructions also contribute to affordable housing," Rama declared. "Integration is not simply that we will become part of the EU and no one will come here, but like everywhere, here they will buy houses, open businesses, send their children to kindergartens, and these constructions are part of Albania's ambition, they are not scenes of crime but transformation. All sorts of theories, all sorts of masks that at the end of the day have nothing to do with anything, but with the lack of capacity to accept Albania's success, being Albanian themselves," said the head of the government.