TIRANA (Albania), December 12 (SeeNews) – Albania’s government said it has signed a 3.5 million euro ($4.1 million) loan deal with German development bank KfW to finance the Prespa transboundary biosphere reserve project.
The proceeds of the loan will be used to finance measures aimed to preserve the biodiversity in the Albanian section of the transboundary biosphere area of Lake Prespa and also improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the area, according to the agreement approved on December 1 and published in the official gazette on Monday.
The Lake Prespa is part of the Ohrid-Prespa transboundary biosphere reserve encompassing the area of lakes Ohrid and Prespa shared by Albania and Macedonia. UNESCO declared the Ohrid-Prespa area a biosphere reserve in June 2014.
With an area of 446,244 hectares and a population of about 455,000, it includes part of Lake Ohrid and its surroundings in Macedonia, which are inscribed on the World Heritage List, as well as part of Lake Ohrid in Albania.