Signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Albanian and European Donors

On 31 May 20010 at Prime Minister office the Government of Albania and Governments of EU countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Fast Track Initiative on Division of Labour. Participatory countries in this initiative represented by respective ambassadors in Albania H.E Saba D'ELIA, Ambassador of Italy, H.E. Florian RAUNIG, Ambassador of Austria, H.E. Yvana ENZLER Ambassador of Switzerland, H.E. Helmuth LOHAN, Head of EU Delegation, and Ms. Elisabeth STAM Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of Sweden signed the memorandum while on behalf of GoA it was signed by Minister of Innovation and ICT, Genc Pollo.

The Fast Tracking Initiative of Division of Labour (FTI-DoL) began in Albania in February 2009. The purpose of the FTI-DoL is to help implement the EU Code of Conduct on Division of Labour adopted by the EU Council of Ministers in May 2007. A joint work has been carried out by the GoA/DSDC representatives throughout 2009 and early 2010, a common agreement has been reached on the roles and responsibilities of the European Lead Donors in the context of FTI-DoL. The allocation of Lead Donors to specific sectors has been agreed based on expression of interest from donors and as a result of sectoral analysis of donor commitments. Its signature will mark the beginning of the implementation of an in-country division of labour aiming to achieve better development results through more effective aid.

During the ceremony of signing the Memorandum, Minister Pollo said: “The signature of Memorandum of Understanding as a way of improving our co-ordination efforts and increasing the effectiveness of aid delivery. This signature marks a new phase for the Fast Tracing Initiative of Division of Labour, its implementation phase. I would like to point out that given the specifics of external assistance in some sectors and the actors involved, the division of labour should take into consideration also the active role of some non-EU donors, in order to avoid duplication and increase effectiveness of our joint efforts. I would like to acknowledge that a lot has been accomplished by the joint working group, starting with the preparation of the questionnaire to map the donor coordination situation, actual mapping of donor support in different sectors and agreement on roles and responsibilities of participating European donors.”

At the end of the ceremony Minister Pollo thanked the working group, Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination (DSDC) and donors representatives for their work which made Fast Track Initiative on Division of Labour a reality in Albania. In particular he congratulated the office of Italian Development Cooperation in Tirana, Flavio Lovisolo and Serena Vitale for steering the discussions on the subject.

Memorandum of Understanding FTI-DoL, signed on 31 May 2010