TIRANA (Albania), March 14 (SeeNews) – The EU drugs agency EMCDDA has signed a working arrangement with Albania’s interior ministry to strengthen their cooperation in prevention of drug trafficking in the candidate country, the EU delegation to Albania said.
“The new agreement provides for the exchange of expertise between the entities concerned and will contribute to developing drug data-collection and reporting capacity in the country,” the EU delegation said in a press release on Wednesday.
Albania is the first country in the Western Balkans to conclude such an agreement.
“The EMCDDA began its cooperation with Albania in 2007 in the framework of EU-funded technical assistance projects designed to prepare Western Balkan countries for accession to the EU (and for participation in the work of the EMCDDA and its Reitox network),” the delegation said.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and Albania are currently working together to consolidate the country’s capacity to monitor the drug phenomenon through the use of evidence-based tools and knowledge built and promoted within the EU. The EU delegation also noted that they also exchange data on new psychoactive substances as well as expertise on establishing a national early-warning system.
Albania was granted EU candidate status in 2014 and hopes to launch membership negotiations later this year.