17 December 2013: The 2nd Drin Basin Multi-Stakeholders Conference provided stakeholders from throughout the Drin Basin an opportunity to consult on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Management of the Drin Basin (Drin MoU), signed on 25 November 2011, by Albania, Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

The conference, which took place in Tirana, Albania, from 10-11 December 2013, brought together nearly 120 representatives from institutions, authorities, regional and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia and the private sector, from within the Drin River basin, as well as from international organizations and donor countries.

The multi-stakeholder conference provided a framework for ongoing engagement of stakeholders in the management of the Drin Basin and provided stakeholders an opportunity to consult on project document development for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project ‘Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Extended Drin River Basin.’ Participants also discussed: activities for the implementation of the Drin MoU; coordination of action among national and international actors, as well as processes and projects; and cross-fertilization among national and regional stakeholders on management- and development-related issues, including on management of protected areas (PAs), monitoring, implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and sustainable tourism.

The conference was organized by the Drin Core Group (DCG) and the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), and supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). [GWP Press Release] [Conference Agenda] [Conference Information Note]