9 – 11 June 2021, Tirana – RAI Secretariat meets the Ministry of Justice of Albania, HIDAACI and Ministry of Education representatives

During the visit to Tirana, from June 9-11, 2021, RAI Secretariat representative Ms. Elmerina Ahmetaj Hrelja, Project Manager – Anticorruption Expert of the EU-funded project ‘Breaking the Silence: Enhancing Whistleblowing Policies and Culture in Western Balkans and Moldova’ (hereinafter: the Project) held meetings with Ms. Rovena Pregja, Head of Anticorruption Programs Unit of the Ministry of Justice of Albania (hereinafter: MoJ) and Mirela Gega, Cabinet Adviser of the High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflicts of Interest (hereinafter: HIDAACI).

At these meetings, the current status of Project activities was discussed and future collaboration was agreed upon. Everyone agreed that whistleblowing is instrumental in the prevention and fight against corruption while recognizing the importance of institutional capacity building and public education for the enforcement of whistleblowing in Albania. The potential need to strengthen the Law on Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection of Albania in line with standards of the EU Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law was also discussed.

A joint meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth (hereinafter: MoE) and MoJ, was also held to discuss potential collaboration between RAI Secretariat and MoE on Project activities, given the role this ministry could play in education on anti-corruption, including on whistleblowing.

Finally, representatives of the EU Delegation, MoJ, MoE, and HIDAACI attended the guerrilla event organized by the RAI Secretariat held on June 10, 2021. The aim of the guerrilla event was to raise public awareness about the damage caused by corruption and the importance of the contribution of each citizen to the fight against corruption, including through whistleblowing as the most efficient mechanism in preventing, detecting, and investigating corruption.