Just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, the government of Albania 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.

Jared Kushner, who served as an adviser to Trump during his first term in the White House, revealed in March 2024 an investment plan to build luxury properties in Albania and also in Serbia.

His company, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, plans to build villas and luxury hotels on the Albanian island of Sazan.

“This 1.4 billion euro investment meets the criteria required by the Albanian legislation in the field of strategic investments,” according to a document published by Albania’s Strategic Investment Commission.

The designation of “strategic investor” allows the company to benefit from accelerated procedures and other facilities in the application of the strategic investment legislation.”

The island of Sazan is located at the entrance to the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea. It has a surface area of 5 square kilometres and was one of the secret military bases of communist Albania (1945-1990).

It had about 3,000 machine guns, underground tunnels, and underground facilities over several kilometres, 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 Commission document dated December 30, 2024, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC is seeking to build real estate on 8 percent of the island’s surface area. As per the “strategic investor” status, Trump’s son-in-law’s company will have to negotiate the investment contract with the Albanian public company Albanian Investment Corporation, while many Albanian government ministries will be on hand to facilitate the process.

Albanian President Bairam Begay recently decided to remove the island of Sazan – which had the status of a firing range and naval training site – from the list of military installations.