OSCE Presence helps Albania and Montenegro to enhance cross-border co-operation

The accord, which follows several unresolved incidents along the border between the two countries, will focus on information exchange, joint border patrols and training, and the sharing of border crossing point facilities. Both sides are still working to finalize the document.

The upcoming agreement is just one aspect of greater co-operation on border issues which is being promoted by the OSCE Presence in Albania. On 5 October 2006, representatives of the Albanian Border and Migration Police and their Montenegrin counterparts met for the first time in over a year.

Held in the northern Albanian city of Shkodra with the technical and financial assistance of the Presence, the workshop brought together senior police representatives from the Central Police Directorates of Tirana and Podgorica, as well as regional and local border police officials.

The gathering, which was moderated by the Presence's Police Assistance and Border Management Unit (PABMU) and attended by the OSCE Mission in Montenegro's Police Reform Programme Adviser Valeri Petrov, discussed cross-border operational issues and sought agreement on future areas for co-operation.

Building on commitments

"This workshop forms part of the OSCE Presence in Albania's efforts to build on its commitments to support and assist the Albanian Border and Migration Police in developing a comprehensive cross-border management co-operation process with their neighbours," says James C. McCarthy, the Head of the PABMU.

The Deputy Head of the Montenegrin Border Police, Vukoman Zarkovic, also expressed his satisfaction with the status of the current informal contacts and local exchanges of information.

"The hosting of this meeting by the Presence was very timely, as both sides had not met at such a high level for over a year," he says. An earlier meeting had not been possible, with Albanian parliamentary elections in July 2005 and the Montenegrin referendum in May 2006.

Future co-operation

The Head of the Integrated Border Management Unit at the Albanian Border and Migration Police Directorate, Nikolle Ndoci, is enthusiastic about the results of the workshop, noting that it "helped channel ideas about possible future co-operation between the two countries into more concrete paths."

The workshop was also held within the broader context of the Ohrid Process for Border Security and Management and the OSCE's new Border Security and Management Concept.

The Ohrid Process is a joint effort by the South-Eastern European countries, plus the EU, the OSCE, NATO and the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe to address the issues of border management and security. This process began in May 2003 at the Ohrid Conference on Border Security and Management with the adoption of the Common Platform (a set of core goals and principles) and the Way Forward document.

Political framework

With the adoption of the OSCE Border Security and Management Concept at the 13th Ministerial Council in Ljubljana in December 2005, the Organization's participating States committed themselves to following a political framework on all border-related co-operation issues.

Albania and the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro have also signed a number of cross-border co-operation documents, including the Vienna Convention on Border Security in South-Eastern Europe.

Nonetheless, Ndoci points out that although both Albania and Montenegro have set joint objectives regarding co-operation on border management, they "should do more towards implementation of such objectives. Until now, both countries have limited their co-operation to expressing their will on paper."

The next meeting between Albanian and Montenegrin police representatives is scheduled for 15 November in Podgorica, where they will review how much progress has been made on greater cross-border co-operation and see how close they are to finalizing their new agreement.