Cross Border Cooperation Prospective Euro-Region or a Pending Effort?

Traditionally, national borders have placed adjacent regions of different countries in a rather peripheral position thus resulting in a particular kind of economic development challenges for these borderlands. The emergence of the cross border cooperation phenomenon in post World War II Europe was a direct reaction to these regional challenges, aiming to better address the mutual concerns of border communities. Accordingly, cross / trans border cooperation is often considered by experts and policy analysts as an effective tool to reduce regional disparities, to boost social and economic development in remote areas and to move on with further integration of national economies in a given geographic area. In the context of Albania, border communities were afflicted the most by nearly half a century of communist rule in the country, as they directly witnessed the consequences of isolation from important cultural and economic centers. This is particularly true of Northern border communities which were deprived of their historical markets across the border without any corresponding efforts to integrate them in the national economy. Due to the economic features of Albanian communist regime, border areas are now facing two primary challenges: (1) within national borders – marginalization of their development prospects due to the “monopoly” of the country’s center over the socio-economic development; and (2) compared to the communities across the border – sharp disparities and inequality of economic development. The Shkodra district constitutes an “excellent” example of this. Unfortunately, the Northern border regions continue to be an illustrative case of challenged communities in this sense. Although quite rich in natural resources, socio-economic development opportunities for this important cultural and historic center, Shkodra has remained marginalized from the general economic development of Albania in the post communist era.
The very recent publication of Albanian Institute for International Studies presents a theoretical and practical observation of Cross Border Cooperation taking as case study Shkodra region in the context of Albanian Montenegrin relations.