6 April 2011: The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med) convened a meeting in Tirana, Albania, on 5 April 2011, to discuss and elaborate on management issues, needs and actions for the sustainable management of the Drin Basin, as well as to facilitate the development of the Strategic Shared Vision for the Basin’s management.

The meeting was part of the Drin Dialogue facilitated by UNECE and GWP-Med. Participants included representatives of national, regional and local authorities, economic sectors, water users associations, academia, private sector, NGOs, international organizations and donor countries.

Participants acknowledged enhanced transboundary cooperation for the sustainable management of the extended Drin basin institutionalized through a joint commission, as one approach to reducing the risk of serious floods, as well as to enhancing protection of biodiversity. Plans were drawn up for the further development of an agreed shared vision for the joint management of the transboundary Drin basin, by the final quarter of 2011.

The Albanian National Consultation Meeting was the second in a series of meetings within the Drin Dialogue. A National Consultation Meeting was organized in November 2010 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and another one is scheduled for summer 2011 in Montenegro. A consultation meeting involving all countries that share the basin will be organized later in 2011. [UNECE Press Release]