The Council of Europe kicked off today a new project entitled “Enhancing Public Sector Resilience Against Corruption”, co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Council of Europe. Over the next two years, this new initiative will support public institutions in strengthening their resilience against corruption and improving asset recovery and management, thereby fostering greater public trust, and promoting the social reuse of confiscated assets.

On the occasion of the first Steering Committee meeting of the project, representatives from the Council of Europe, the SDC and the Albanian authorities had opportunity to discuss jointly the intended interventions and planned activities of support under this new project.

In their remarks, both the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Tirana, Olsi Dekovi, and the Head of Governance and Health Sector at the Swiss Embassy, Sabine Piccard, underlined the importance of supporting Albanian institutions in advancing anticorruption and asset recovery reforms as a key component of the country’s path towards the European Union (EU).

Representatives of the key partner institutions while actively engaging in the discussions, reiterated their commitment to the project’s objectives, which are aligned with the country’s anticorruption strategic framework and the EU integration agenda.

Following the Steering Committee meeting, the project will continue its implementation phase, with upcoming activities including assessments of institutional needs and the launch of targeted support measures to strengthen anti-corruption and asset recovery frameworks in Albania.