Albania takes part in Customs 2007 conference

NAPLES, Nov. 27 – The Albanian customs authorities took part in a conference held in Naples, Italy on inter-border customs cooperation among the southeastern European countries. The conference, held Nov. 16-17, was initiated by the European Commission and Italy through its Customs Project, Mezzogiorno Balcani. The 2.5 million euro project aims at closer cooperation among the member countries. Italy will involve its southern districts in establishing closer cooperation with southeastern Balkan countries, exploiting the Bar-Belgrade and Corridor 8 projects, as well as the links between Montenegro and the Albanian ports of Shkodra and Durres. All of the links of this regional network cover some 1,270 kilometers of railway and 960 kilometers of road. The customs heads from Albania, Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey and the European Commission took part in the conference. Their joint statement said that increasing customs capacities in the area was an important part of their integration efforts into the European Union. They agreed on an approximation of legislation and procedures with the EU’s Acquis, multilateral assistance, risk management, training, border management, and the fight against corruption.