TIRANA (Albania), February 7 (SeeNews) – The European Union said it has launched a 5 million euro ($5.7 million) programme to help candidate country Albania strengthen its food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary standards.
The programme will be implemented by a group of public bodies from EU member states led by the Irish food safety authority and supported by Finnish food safety authority, Irish department of agriculture and an Albanian NGO - CBS Creative Business Solutions, the EU delegation to Albania said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The project we are launching today will bring Albania closer to EU standards,” EU ambassador to Albania Luigi Soreca said, adding that the programme will also contribute to opening the EU market to Albanian products.
This partnership provides Albanian authorities with unique access to counterpart organisations and individuals in two EU member states which have directly comparable responsibilities under EU food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary law, and long experience in reforming food safety policy and management systems over the last three decades,” the EU delegation to Albania noted.
($ = 0.87825 euro)