TIRANA, February 19 /ATA/-Prime Minister Edi Rama demanded during his U.S. visit the establishment of an Albanian-American Academy of Transparency.
The academy, a support of the U.S. government, is due to begin as a pilot project and focus on the funds of the Donor Conference for Albania’s reconstruction.
The project was initially launched by the Special Envoy of the USA for Western Balkans Matthew Palmer during his speech at the Donor Conference in Brussels.
After his return in Tirana, PM Rama said during an interview on television that: “On my first visit to the USA I demanded a switch in the USAID program and build the pilot academy”.
Further on, during the Security Conference in Munich, the USAID administrator Mark Green highlighted Albania’s example that didn’t require funds, but technical assistance.
“And it’s not always about money. For example, the country of Albania, we’re working with them. When I met with the prime minister in Albania some weeks ago now, he was very frank. He said, “Love everything you guys have done for us. Some of those old programs we actually don’t need anymore. What we need is technical assistance on corruption and transparency.” So in that case, it really isn’t about the money. It’s providing some technical expertise. What we want to do is tailor our approach country by country to try to help people achieve their aspirations”, said Green three days before the Donor Conference./p.s./
