Upon the initiative of the Ministry of European Integration of Albania and in cooperation with CBIB Tirana Office team and the GTZ office in Albania, a workshop on cross-border cooperation was organised in Tirana, on December 18th, 2006, at Tirana International Hotel.

The representatives of the governments of Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, government of Kosovo (under the UNSCR 1244) and one representative of UNMIK in charge of coordinating CBC programmes, attended the workshop. Albanian representatives included officials from national authorities (Ministry of European Integration, line ministries and central agencies), as well as heads of prefectures, regional and local authorities from five regions bordering Montenegro, Kosovo (under the UNSCR 1244) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Objectives:

The main objectives of the workshop were to:

(i) increase awareness on cross-border cooperation opportunities;
and

(ii) facilitate a dialogue between partners involved in cross-border cooperation programmes between
Albania, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo (under the UNSCR 1244).

The workshop consisted of two main sessions. The morning plenary session was dedicated to the presentation of issues of common interest related to cross-border cooperation. The afternoon session consisted of three bilateral meetings of technical representatives of Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo (under the UNSCR 1244).

The reasons for structuring the workshop in this way were:

• to give the opportinity to representatives of each country/institutions to present their vision and the main priorities for cross-border cooperation;
• to introduce the new procedures developed by the European Commission with regard to preparation of cross-border programmes and establishment of management structures;
• to define the required steps and activcities to be followed for the implementation of the cross-border programmes and establishment of the joint management structures for the programmes.