Conference for Western Balkans and Turkey

TIRANA, April 1 – On 2-3 April 2009 the Donor Co-ordination Conference for Western Balkans and Turkey will be held in Tirana, organized by the Government of Albania- Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination and European Commission- Directorate General Enlargement. The Conference will once more bring together more than 200 representatives of international financial institutions, EU non-EU donors, UN organizations, as well as representatives from the Western Balkans and Turkey and of the European Commission delegations in the region.
At the Donor Coordination Conference held in Brussels 23-24 October 2008 it was agreed that monitoring events are held in the region every six months and Albania is hosting the first one.
The Conference will give to the participants the opportunity to share best practices on aid coordination, progress made in the region, difficulties encountered and plans for further enhancing donor coordination. To the European Commission, it will give an opportunity to share possibilities for rationalizing financing modalities of assistance.
The effectiveness of external assistance management has been in the focus of the Government and donors operating in Albania for many years. 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.
The conference will serve not only for sharing the best practices but also agreeing upon the next steps toward closer coordination, including the identification of some concrete measures in key sectors. Donor coordination is a key tool for enhancing the effectiveness and flexibility of aid. This becomes even more important in light of the challenges the countries are facing as a consequence of the financial crisis.