TIRANA – Capacity building for public administration according to best European experiences and practices is key to better management of reforms so they bring most value to citizens best deliver public services to citizens.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy of Albania and the EU-funded technical assistance team concluded a two-day workshop on the EU financial assistance to support Albania in its efforts to implement key reforms for better management of public finances, fight against corruption, improved opportunities for employment and enhanced transport capacities.

The event brought together secretary generals and heads of finance and budget at various ministries, government officials, representatives from the Department of Public Administration, the Delegation of the European Union in Tirana, practitioners across institutions, as well as the EU funded technical assistance team for Public Finance Management to discuss the benefits from the Sector Budget Support and to help improve its management, coordination and cooperation among government stakeholders.

The participants exchanged their views, experiences and lessons learnt on how to better manage these reforms so they bring most value to citizens.

The European Union has made available 125 million Euro to Albania to support several key reforms for better management of public finances and administration.

The 2014-2020 Public Finance Management Strategy is a result of successful cooperation between the Ministry of Finance, national and international partner institutions, and civil society involved in the field of public finances.

This document is of great importance as it not only defines the path to restoring public finances to the long-term sustainability trajectory, thus creating the prerequisites for economic growth, but also constitutes an obligation under the agreements with international partners, in particular the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.