06 October 2021

The Food Safety Project organised a meeting on 6 October at MoARD premises to discuss preparations for bilateral screening, drafting of key framework laws and development of a National Agri-Food Policy for Albania.

As a candidate country Albania is required to adapt administrative and institutional infrastructures to bring national legislation into line with the EU acquis. The chapters of the acquis form the basis of accession negotiations and are reviewed and evaluated during the screening process.

Working on behalf of the Food Safety Project, two experts from Croatia, Ružica Gelo and Sanja Šeparović, visited Tirana as part of their ongoing work in providing guidance and technical support to MoARD with regards to legal alignment, capacity building and implementation of Chapter 12 of the EU acquis which covers rules on food safety, animal health and plant health.

Vanessa Cooling, Food Safety Project Team Leader provided an update on plans to develop a national agri-food safety policy for Albania. The project will work closely with MoARD and other stakeholders to develop a policy that will establish a national, long-term vision, road-map and action plan for the Albanian agri-food safety system.

Funded by the European Union, the project "Support for Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Standards" is being implemented by a group led by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The implementing group also includes the Finnish Food Authority, the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Creative Business Solutions (CBS) in Albania.