S&T Country Report - Albania - WBC-INCO Net

1.3 Specific Programmes and Instruments
Following programmes, projects and instruments supporting technology development
are defined:
- Adriatic - Ionian Initiative;
- EU - PHARE / CARDS - IPA;
- GTZ projects;
- USAID Programme (EDEM - Albania Enterprise Development & Export
Market Services);
- UNOPS - PASARP programme (Program of Activities in Support of Albanian
Regions and Prefectures); and
- World Bank’s programmes: IFC/PEP Southeast Europe, Southeast Europe
Enterprise Development (SEED - the programme is already closed), Training
Enterprise and Employment Fund.
- Adriatic - Ionian Initiative
The Initiative is based on the idea that international crises are not resolved through
violence but through a mutual cooperation among the various peoples, in order to
identify and jointly define a range of common interests, in all sectors. From a modern
perspective, these interests are coincident with: security, economics, trade, scientific
and technological research and development, environment conservation, and finally,
preservation of cultural heritage and values, which are plentiful in this region. The
seven countries of the Adriatic Ionian Basin, namely Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia, launched the
Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, signing the Ancona Declaration in the occasion of the
Ancona Conference on “Development and Security in the Adriatic and the Ionian”
(March 20, 2000).
In Albania, the Adriatic - Ionian Initiative, financed by the Italian Government, aims to
improve access to information and communication.
- EU - PHARE / CARDS
Since 2001, the Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and
Stabilisation (“CARDS”) programme has been the main EC financial instrument for
co-operation in the Balkan countries. For the period 2001-2005, commitments under
the CARDS national programme for Albania were EUR 237 million. The strategy of
the CARDS Programme is expressed in the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for
Albania, 2002-2006, prepared by the European Commission and the Government of
Albania.
The main priorities for financing under the CARDS programme as stated in the CSP
for Albania were:
• Legislation;
• Administrative capacity building;
• Economic and Social Development;
• Environmental and Natural Resources; and
• Stability and democracy.
In 2007 the CARDS programme was transformed to IPA - Instrument for Pre-
Accession Assistance.
page 10/ALB