
Albanian government declares Kushner's company a strategic investor, just before Trump's inauguration
Days before Donald Trump's inauguration, the Albanian government granted "strategic investor" status to the company of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to build a tourist complex on an island that was formerly a military base.
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Jared Kushner, who was an advisor to Trump during his first term in the White House, revealed in March 2024 an investment plan to build luxury properties in Albania, as well as in Serbia.
His company, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, intends to build villas and luxury hotels on the Albanian island of Sazan.
"This 1,4 billion euro investment meets the criteria required by Albanian legislation in the field of strategic investments," said a document published by Albania's Strategic Investment Committee.
The designation of "strategic investor" allows the company to benefit from accelerated procedures and other facilitations under the strategic investment legislation.
Sazan Island is located at the entrance to the Strait of Otranto, which connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea. It has an area of 5 square kilometers and was one of the secret military bases of communist Albania (1945-1990).
There were about 3.000 artillery pieces, underground tunnels and underground facilities several kilometers long, as well as nuclear shelters, a former soldier at the base told AFP in July 2024. Isolated from the world for decades and now abandoned, the island was reopened to the public in 2015.
According to a Strategic Investment Committee document dated December 30, 2024, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC is seeking to develop real estate on 8% of the island's land area.
As defined by the "strategic investor" status, Trump's son-in-law's company will have to negotiate the investment agreement with the Albanian state-owned company, the Albanian Investment Corporation, while a number of Albanian government ministries will be on hand to facilitate the process.
Albanian President Bajram Begaj recently decided to remove Sazan Island – which had the status of a training ground and naval base – from the list of military installations.