Global environmental challenges, combined with increasing stakeholder expectations, demand from businesses to adopt responsible practices that reduce their environmental footprint, promote social well-being and contribute to economic progress. This paper aims to explore and compare the sustainability policies and practices in Italian and Albanian business environment. It follows a qualitative approach and is based on secondary data collected through a deep literature review. At the same time, a broad observation of several Albanian companies brings practical contribution into the analysis. The comparison between key dimensions of sustainability principles in Italian and Albanian companies enables to highlight the cooperation opportunities for both countries. The paper provides helpful insights on how implementation of latest voluntary standards (VSME) can contribute to a smoother adoption of sustainability principles in Albanian SMEs for an easier integration of the country in the single European market. Sustainability in Albania can be defined as a current journey where hard challenges and an incredible potential underline a promising situation and perspective.