Albania and North Macedonia sign fisheries management agreement on Lake Ohrid and Greate Prespa

Bledi Çuçi and Arjanit Hoxha signing the agreement

 About two months after the signing of the agreement on the recognition of phytosanitary certificates for the circulation of tax-free of agricultural products, Albania and North Macedonia take another important step towards the Balkan Schengen strategic initiative for the development of the region.

The Ministers of Agriculture of the two countries, Bledi Çuçi and Arjanit Hoxha, signed in Struga the Agreement on Joint Sustainable Fisheries Management in Lake Ohrid and Greater Prespa. After the signing, Minister Çuçi said that the finalization of this agreement is another proof of the excellent cooperation between the two countries and an expression of the will to use responsibly this common wealth not only of Albania and North Macedonia but of all Europe.

"Fish and fish fauna have neither a passport nor borders. Today we will start to consider the whole ecosystem of Ohrid and Greater Prespa as a whole and we will start to build structures to manage it as a whole, without borders, without barriers. Because when we in Albania throw away the Koran cases as we threw 1.6 million this year, these do not belong to Albania but to the Ohrid ecosystem. Today’s deal is of particular importance because it tends to discipline fishing into two fantastic natural assets across Europe. This is clear proof of the excellent cooperation we have between the two countries and between us as ministers, and it comes in the spirit of targeted regional cooperation that we call the Schengen Region. I am glad that at least in the field of agriculture we are showing a will to remove any barrier in the function of the development of our two countries ", said Minister Çuçi.

"We will have other agreements in the field of agriculture and joint management. What we signed in Struga is also in the spirit of what the Prime Ministers of the two countries have discussed for the opening of a Balkan mini-industry, which precedes our integration into the European Union", said the Minister of Agriculture in North Macedonia, Arjanit Hoxha.

Following the approval of this agreement, a Joint Fisheries Committee will be established in Lake Ohrid and Greater Prespa, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the agreement. The decisions of this Committee will not have a binding effect, but each party must implement its recommendations through the legal mechanisms provided and enforceable through national regulatory acts.

Bilateral working groups have been working for about two years for the finalisation of this agreement, which has been supported by GIZ through the project "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Lakes Prespa, Ohrid, and Shkodra, in partnership with the German Institute of Inland Fishing. A similar agreement for Lake Shkodra is in the final stages of approval and is expected to be signed soon between Albania and Montenegro.