Most government officials speak English or some other European language (French, Italian, German, and Greek) to some extent. However, this may not always be true with private enterprises. In any case, interpreters are widely used for any types of meetings, sometimes the interpreter being the assistant or the secretary of the Albanian entrepreneur/businessman. Contracts can be made verbally and/or in written form. 

Albanians dress in European fashion and lively colours, with business attire being more casual than their European colleagues and their business behaviour more laid back. 

Business meetings may often take place in unconventional places, such as café houses, residential dwellings, as well as during taxi rides. 

The territory of Albania in antiquity was mainly inhabited by Illyrians, who came to the southwestern Balkan Peninsula before Slavs, Romans and Greeks.

From the 8th to the 11th century, the name Illyria gradually gave way to the name of the Albanoi tribe, which inhabited what is now central Albania. During the World War I the country was occupied by the Austrians and Axis Powers. After the war the sovereign Albania was accepted in the United Nations. With the fall of the European Communist regimes in 1989, the Albanian government eventually introduced some social and economic reforms. The Prime Minister – reformist Ilir Meta, elected in 1999, promoted the attachment to the West Europe and the long-term joining NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and later the European Union.

Monday - Friday: 8.30am – 2.00pm.

Thursday: 8.00am – 12.30pm and 1.30pm – 5.30pm.

Monday - Friday: 8.00am - 12.00pm and 2.00pm – 6.00pm.

Some post-offices are open also on Saturdays: 8.00am – 10.00am.

Legally permitted opening hours:

Monday - Sunday: 8.00am – 12.00pm and 3.00pm – 5.00pm.