“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
From visitor to strategic investor: How Jared Kushner secured Sazan
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 16 January 2025
In this article
Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government has granted strategic-investment status to a project linked to the son-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump. The Sazan Island luxury tourism development associated with Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners was approved with Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC as the applicant. The project has raised concerns about a lack of transparency and its possible impact on the area’s natural habitat.
From tourists to strategic investors
An unusual visit to the House of Leaves museum in Tirana made headlines in the Albanian media in late July 2023. Prime Minister Edi Rama accompanied former US ambassador Richard Grenell, Ivanka, the daughter of the then former president Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner.
The Kushner-Trump couple left their impressions and praise for Albania in the visitors’ book at the museum’s entrance. But what was presented as a warm tourist visit was in fact a business trip.
Five months later, on 27 December, through Atlantic Incubation Partners, Kushner submitted a proposal to the Albanian government for two major investment projects on Sazan and in Zvërnec.
The proposal remained out of public view until March 2024, when Kushner himself disclosed it in an interview with Bloomberg, presenting the first images of luxury villas and hotels. He gave no details about the discussions or procedures he had followed.
Meanwhile, the Albanian authorities gave contradictory answers to media inquiries.
The Ministry of Defence told Citizens at the time that Sazan was “within the Armed Forces’ Deployment and Stationing Plan”, while the Ministry of Tourism and Environment said there was “no request to develop this area”.
By contrast, the Albanian Investment Development Agency, which had meanwhile requested information about Sazan from the Ministry of Defence, acknowledged that Kushner had submitted a proposal and that it was being assessed “against all the legal criteria laid down by the law on strategic investments”.
As attention in Albania focused on this discussion, the Socialist majority worked to clear the way for the project.
It amended the law on protected areas, giving the government powers to decide on their development. In parallel, the government gained powers over the development of marine areas through the transformation of the National Territorial Council into the National Council of Territory and Water, while parliament extended the strategic-investment law to 2026.
On 2 December 2024, President Bajram Begaj decreed the removal of the Sazan training and naval-firing area from the Armed Forces’ deployment plan. Four weeks later, on 30 December, the Strategic Investment Committee granted Kushner’s project “Strategic Investment/Investor, Special Procedure” status.
The status, valid for ten years, gives the project substantial benefits, including accelerated administrative procedures, help obtaining permits and approval in principle for the consolidation and provision of state property, subject to further decisions and a final agreement. The project is to be developed through a joint legal entity comprising the Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC) and Albanian Seaports Development Company (ASDC), alongside the investor, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC.
The project’s details and the Albanian state’s involvement
Bloomberg and The New York Times reported in March 2024 on Kushner’s plans for major resorts in Zvërnec and on Sazan, with the international Aman brand involved in the island project. Bloomberg put the proposed scale in the Zvërnec area at up to nearly 10,000 accommodation units.
The Investment Committee’s decision makes no mention of Zvërnec, leaving it unclear whether Kushner’s project is now focused solely on Sazan. The project nevertheless envisages investment of around €1.4 billion in three phases, developing 8% of the island’s surface area.
It promises employment for around 1,000 people during construction and operation. The construction area covers 45 of Sazan’s total 562 hectares; the island is currently administered by the Ministry of Defence, and part of its surrounding waters lies within the Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park.
This has raised concerns about the development’s potential impact on the area’s biodiversity and ecosystems. But with the government acquiring decision-making powers over development in marine areas too, government intervention could sidestep this obstacle.
Affinity Partners, founded by Jared Kushner, manages around $3 billion in assets, a substantial share financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Alongside Kushner, the firm’s leadership also includes executive Thomas Storch.
With the granting of investor status, the Albanian government is appointing a team to negotiate an investment agreement that will establish the terms, role and involvement of the Albanian state, most likely through a public-private partnership.
In any event, the government will bear the costs of technical, legal, financial and environmental expertise and assessments.
It must ensure water and electricity supplies for the investor, two longstanding problems on the island even under the dictatorship, when the area was run as a military base known as the “Key to Otranto”.
The main concerns about the project
While the Albanian government sees the project as an opportunity for economic development and tourism promotion, environmental organisations have raised concerns about natural habitats.
Sazan Island contains natural monuments such as the Devil’s Gorge Coral Barrier and the Sazan Cliffs, both protected by law. Construction in this area raises questions about the preservation of its natural heritage and the impact on local ecosystems.
The Strategic Investments Law and recent legal changes allowing development in protected areas have intensified doubts about the transparency and purpose of these decisions.
The Strategic Investment Committee’s decision stresses that any construction must avoid damaging these monuments and include environmental safeguards, but this is not enough to guarantee that they will remain untouched.
Sazan was one of the places where the dictatorship invested heavily in building a military base. Its remains were opened to the public in 2015, in a government-backed initiative intended to draw attention to the preservation of memory.
Yet ten years later, the island has seen no clear project to develop this aspect of its heritage, even as a form of historical tourism.
In this context, transparency and public involvement remain essential to the project’s success and acceptance, although experience with previous strategic investments offers little reassurance.
* Editorial clarification, 9 October 2026: The text clarifies Donald Trump’s status on the publication date, the applicant, the interval between decisions and the conditions of strategic status, as well as the scale of the Zvërnec proposal and the distinction between the island and the marine park’s waters. The original publication date and January 2025 perspective are preserved.