Institutions and organizations from the Italian regions of Puglia and Molise, Albania, and Montenegro are successfully collaborating within the Interreg IPA programme for cross-border cooperation between Italy, Albania, and Montenegro. Even better results from trilateral cooperation are expected within the new Interreg IPA Adriatic-Ionian programme.

This was announced in Kolasin, where the Joint Monitoring Committee for cross-border cooperation programmes between the three states met to discuss the perspective of 2014-2020, as well as the Steering Committee for the Adriatic-Ionian programme, which is being implemented under the financial perspective of 2021-2027. Delegations from Italy, Albania, and Montenegro, as well as the European Commission, attended the meeting.

“Through the Interreg IPA programme for cross-border cooperation between Italy, Albania, and Montenegro 2014-2020, 100 projects with a total value of around 82.4 million euros were supported, of which around 70 million euros were allocated by the European Union,” said Bojan Vujović, Acting General Director of the Directorate for European Funds in the Ministry of European Affairs of Montenegro.

As he noted, 81.3 million euros have been allocated for the new Interreg IPA Adriatic-Ionian programme.

The participants expressed their satisfaction that a total of 128 project proposals were submitted to the first call of the Interreg IPA Adriatic-Ionian programme, of which the most successful ones will be supported with a total of 5 million euros. In Montenegro, a total of 119 institutions and organizations expressed interest, of which 14 are in the position of the lead partner in project proposals.