Swiss project to modernize the Archives

A Swiss project recently got underway to train specialists who will be working on the modernization of the archives. The project opened with a specialization course (which ends on 15 March) in which thirty employees of state archives are participating from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. The teaching program of this course is made up of 21 days of theory and practice with instructors and experts from France, Italy, Switzerland and Albanian lecturers. He course also includes six weeks of touring six different archives of Albania, such as in Tirana, Lezha, Shkodra, Kruja, Berat and Vlora. The students will complete this course with a certificate of acknowledgment. It is thought that such training will be annual as part of a long-term Swiss project to modernize the archives of Albania, under the direction of Jean-Marc Comment, representative of the Swiss Federal Archives. Since 1994 to the current phase, the support of the Swiss government has helped modernize our national archives and has included support with technical and maintenance equipment, the computerization of the archives and the development of pro0fessional capacities.
The Director of the State Archives of Montenegro Stevan Radunovic said that this course is in fact a kind of regional centre where the employees of the archives of several states learn together. They then return to their jobs far better qualified. I believe this is an excellent way of fostering cooperation between the archives of the region. I am absolutely certain that in the continuation of social and historical conditions, archival documentation which we preserve here in Montenegro, like the archives in the neighbouring states, will continue to present a fund of historical values which could be reviewed and studied as parts of the history we share in this area of the Western Balkans. We are not just interested in preserving the archival documentation entrusted to us, but we want to try and promote it, make it available and useful to those interested.
The Montenegrin State Archives have about 1300 archival funds, about ten thousand linear meters of documents. Undoubtedly, we have a substantial volume on Albania too and the Albanians, due to how close we are. It is necessary however to review all this material to discover and register exactly what materials we have.