TIRANA, Nov  18 /ATA/ On Friday, Albania officially became a full member of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Minister of Defense, Niko Peleshi, signed Friday together with the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, in the premises of the COD, at the govt. building, the agreement for membership in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

In the joint press conference, Peleshi stated that, “the European mechanism has been by our side in difficult days for civil emergencies, in response to natural disasters, culminating in November 2019 in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Albania”.

Peleshi said that “we are members of this Mechanism. It means that today we participate, not just as beneficiaries, but also as contributors to the tables where policies, measures, civil protection acts are developed for the entire EU space, but also for the Balkan countries that are joining this process “.

“Today we are the beneficiaries of knowledge transfer, technology transfer. Technology advances rapidly, it is necessary, necessary, to integrate in the civil protection system, we need to build human capacities, we need training, for certain manuals, which we could not benefit to the extent, form and speed that we will now access as members of this Mechanism”, emphasized Peleshi.

/sm/