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EU Enlargement & Neighbourhood
The EU prioritises development and stability in the wider region and neighbourhood, working in close partnership with its neighbours to the East and South and supporting the reforms required by countries that want to become EU members.
Today, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex in cooperation with the Albanian authorities, launched the first ever joint operation outside the European Union. This marks a new phase for border cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan partners. The event took place in Tirana, Albania, in the presence of Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, Albanian Minister of Interior Sandër Lleshaj, EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
One hundred Young European Ambassadors from the European Union and its six Eastern partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) have gathered on 14-15 February in Brussels to celebrate the achievements of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in the past decade.
“This is exactly what I needed,” an entrepreneur from Gracanica, Azemina Ahmedbegovic, said at the end of the cultural heritage exhibition organized by the Association of Business Women in BiH in Sarajevo in December 2018. “Sometimes I get discouraged by a lack of opportunity, but this evening boosted my confidence in our work,” she adds with a smile on her face.
The European Union is supporting Albania’s efforts to provide quality public services for its citizens and move closer to European good administration practices.
In the Western Balkans in 2018, we walked along the Cultural Heritage Route, which consisted of a series of initiatives and events on material and immaterial heritage, supported by the European Union and its Member States. The Route aimed to connect and highlight events organised by the EU Delegations and EU National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), in close cooperation with local civil society, celebrating cultural heritage in all its forms.
