Fourth EU-Albania Horizon Europe meeting highlights progress toward integration

The fourth meeting of the EU-Albania Horizon Europe Joint Research and Innovation Committee has highlighted Albania’s progress in scientific integration and its path toward EU accession.

The European Commission hosted the meeting in Brussels on 09/04/2026, co-chaired by Mina Stareva, deputy head of unit for international cooperation in the Commission's directorate-general for research and innovation (DG RTD), and Armela Baka, Albania's deputy education minister.

"Both sides presented recent policy developments, including broad legislation efforts on the Albanian side and concrete efforts stemming from its Smart Specialisation Strategy in the fields of health research, raw materials, nanotechnology, cultural tourism and youth engagement," the Commission said.

Albania is interested in aligning national policies with European Research Area (ERA) priorities and is committed to playing a more active role in ERA structural policies and ERA actions, such as those on research careers, research infrastructures or science for policy, the Commission said.

Albania’s participation in Horizon…