Trans-Adriatic cooperation
Linking Italian and Albanian customs activities. Andrea Mazzella, the director of the Italian customs and monopolies agency’s office for international relations, recently visited the Albanian capital Tirana and the port of Durrës, the Western Balkan country’s main gateway, on a mission to bring the countries closer.
Italy is set to strengthen its partnership with Albania in the fields of data exchange, trade facilitation and the fight against fraud, as well as the cooperation between the ports of Ancona, Bari and Brindisi on the one hand, and Durrës and Vlorë on the other.
To this end, a delegation from Italy’s customs and monopolies agency (Agenzia delle accise, dogane e monopoli ADM) travelled to Albania at the end of October. It was received by the director in charge of Albania’s central customs authority, Genti Gazheli.
The two delegations, which also included a representative of Italy’s financial police, visited Porto Romano, which has been designated to become one of the country’s most important commercial centres. It is located approximately 10 km north of the hub in Durrës.
ADM wants to bring Albania’s customs system closer to the EU’s through this engagement, and to improve links with other customs authorities in the Western Balkans region.