The European Union and its Member States represent the main source of Official Development Assistance on a global scale (OECD-DAC). In 2017, the European Union adopted 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals as driving tools of its action through the “New European Consensus on Development”, a strategic framework for EU institutions and Member States.
The Italian Cooperation System keeps a two-way relationship with the European Union. According to art. N. 6 of Law 125/2014, on the one hand Italy “participates in the definition of the European Union’s development aid policy, contributes to the budget and funds of the European Union and harmonizes its guidelines and programming lines with those of the European Union, encouraging the implementation of joint projects“, while on the other hand “contributes to the execution of European development aid programs including by participating in indirect centralized management, normally through the Agency.”
The European Commission, therefore, represents a strategic partner for the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation which, since the beginning of its operations in January 2016, has offered a technical and managerial contribution to the implementation of initiatives financed by European instruments and entrusted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
In 2018, the Agency completed the accreditation process as a qualified institution for the indirect management of European funding. Since then, AICS has assumed full ownership of delegated cooperation initiatives.
The AICS Tirana Regional Office currently manages five delegated cooperation programs:
Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans (CC4WBs) |
EU for Nature |
Improve the capacity of independent justice institutions in Albania – EU4Justice |
EU for Economic Development – Tourism-led Local Economic Development, with focus on Culture Heritage |
EU Support for Internal Market
Budget: 8.000.000 EUR
Funded by European Union
Implemented by: AICS Tirana, FIIAP (International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies),
SAIDC (The Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation)
Duration: September 2023 – September 2026 (36 months)
Implementation Countries: Serbia