Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner vacation on Albania’s southern coast amid investment talks
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have once again chosen to spend a few days vacationing on Albania’s southern coast. Their yacht was spotted earlier this week anchored at the beach of Qeparo, a picturesque and tranquil village within the municipality of Himara.
Why is this relevant
The repeated visits of the Trump-Kushner family to Albania’s southern coast underline their commitment to an ambitious $1 billion project aimed at transforming the island of Sazan into a luxury resort under the exclusive Aman brand.
Context
Jared Kushner reaffirmed his intentions on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg, stating his plans to build a resort featuring luxury villas on Sazan Island. Kushner revealed that his interest in this investment was sparked in 2021 during his first visit to Albania. Since then, he has returned multiple times to assess the potential of the location. Kushner made the investment plan public in March of this year, also through Bloomberg.
Following this announcement, Albania’s Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism and Environment acknowledged that Jared Kushner’s Miami-based company, Affinity Partners, had shown interest in investing in Sazan, although no official project proposal had been submitted for approval. At that time, the Prime Minister expressed enthusiasm for such an investment:
“As far as I’m concerned, Sazan is the place where we can write Albania’s business card in the heart of the Mediterranean and can tell all the tigers, lions, and elephants of the global tourism industry: ‘We are Albania!’ We are raising the bar to a level that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. I know today we have an amazing offer on the table, with extraordinary potential, which we will review according to the law.”
Political and environmental reactions
In Albania, even the opposition, seemingly constrained by the fact that the investor is the son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump and a candidate in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, has not opposed the project, despite traditionally challenging and denouncing every single investment made under the Socialist government.
However, environmentalists have publicly voiced concerns, arguing that such an investment could damage the unique natural environment of Sazan, Albania’s only island. The investors, in response, have assured that the materials used for the project will be environmentally friendly.
Sazan Island, during the communist regime, was a military zone off-limits to civilians. Since the regime’s fall, there have been no investments, leaving only the ruins of military buildings as remnants of the totalitarian system.
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