TIRANA, Jan. 15 – The European Union on Tuesday made available 950.000 Euros for a new project to support Albania’s efforts in the fight against organized crime.
The project will be implemented through a twinning arrangement between the Home Office of the United Kingdom and the Albanian Ministry of Interior, helping the ministry to set up a comprehensive strategy coupled with a training and development program for the fight against organized crime and to boost international cooperation in this field.
The aims of the project will be achieved through a combination of advice and assistance with operational support.
Assistance in the field of organized crime will include developing covert policing capacity, evidence gathering and use of specialist equipment. This will relate in particular to the formulation of strategic tasks and the transfer of know-how from the United Kingdom. The project will also address questions of practical cooperation between different law enforcement agencies in their daily work.
“This project should ultimately lead to long lasting changes in investigative mentalities and practices, as well as to concrete operational results. It should thus help restore public confidence in the rule of law in Albania”, said the Head of the EC Delegation to Albania, Ambassador Helmuth Lohan,
Lohan said this twinning project follows and builds upon previous EC funded projects for capacity building in the area of law enforcement, adding it also indicated the continued commitment of the EU towards a more effective fight against organized crime in Albania.
The concept of “twinning” implies a close partnership between public sector administrations in the beneficiary country and a Member State. As part of the partnership, long, medium and short-term experts from Member States are seconded to the beneficiary country administration.
The main long-term expert from the Home Office of the United Kingdom will be hosted in the Albanian State Police premises for up to 24 months to help with the preparation and the implementation of training and other support activities intended to support the fight against organized crime.
