Conference to discuss donor coordination in Western Balkans and Turkey, 2-3 April, Tirana
The
Government of Albania and the European Commission organized a conference
on "Donor coordination in the Western Balkans and Turkey" that took place in
Tirana on 2-3 April 2009. Around 200 stakeholders discussed
potential improvements and better coordination of their activities.
The aims of the Conference were to take stock of progress made in enhancing donor coordination, exchange best practices, address remaining deficiencies and make practical recommendations on how to further enhance donor coordination and ensure efficient distribution of task among donors. Concrete measures were discussed in the sectors of education, environment and transport all of which play a key role in socio-economic development and in European and regional integration of the Western Balkans and Turkey.
The conference was opened by the Director General for Enlargement,
Mr. Michael Leigh, together with the Prime Minister of the Government of Albania,
H.E. Mr. Sali Berisha, and the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Albania,
H.E. Mrs. Marketa Fialkova.
Donors' financial assistance to the Western Balkans and Turkey amounted to some EUR 20 billion during the period 2005-2008. The last conference on donor coordination took place in October 2008 in Brussels on the initiative of the European Commission. Following its recommendations, the conference in Tirana was the first to take place in a beneficiary country and will brought together some 200 representatives of the International Financial Institutions, European Union Member States, non-EU donors and representatives of the Western Balkans and Turkey.
A key objective of the Albania Government’s Integrated Planning System (IPS), implemented since 2005, is a greater alignment of external assistance to the national strategic priorities and budgeting process, as a set of operating principles to ensure that government policy planning and implementation take place in a coherent, efficient and integrated manner. Since the establishment of the Department of Strategy and Donor Co-ordination in 2005 at Council of Ministers, considerable progress has been achieved in increasing ownership and the Government’s role in coordinating external assistance in line with the country priorities as stated in the National Strategy for Development and Integration 2007-2013.
To find out more about the conference and about Donor Coordination in the Western Balkans and Turkey, please visit:
01.04.2009
