Foreign Operations Appropriated Assistance: Albania

Albania: Est. FY 2008 USD Thousands   Total For. Ops. Accounts**: $21,825 Assistance for Eastern Europe and Baltic States: $17,854 Foreign Military Financing (FMF): $2,115 Non-proliferation, Anti-terrorism, De-mining and Related Programs (NADR): $785 International Military Education and Training (IMET):  $571 Child Survival and Health (CSH):  $500 For More Information: SEED Annual Report:  http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rpt Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Report: http://www.mcc.gov/countries/albania/index.php U.S. Embassy: http://tirana.usembassy.gov/

Assistance Goals: United States Government (USG) assistance to Albania seeks to reinforce the country’s strong security partnership with the United States. The USG provides the country with the necessary tools to mitigate corruption, broaden economic growth, and increase investment in its people through improved health and workforce development programs.

Areas of Focus (Foreign Operations Appropriated Assistance):

Peace and Security (PS): FY 2007: $11.02M, Est. FY 2008: $7.46M

• Support Albania’s goal to fully integrate with Euro-Atlantic institutions and its aspirations on eventually joining NATO
• Modernize Albania’s armed forces to become interoperable with NATO
• Improve the organization and professionalism of Albania’s law enforcement specifically in combating transnational crime and trafficking in persons

Governing Justly and Democratically (GJD): FY 2007: $6.47M, Est. FY 08: $5.80M

• Strengthen Albania’s audit and oversight institutions to detect and deter corrupt practices
• Improve civic society participation in local governments
• Build a transparent judiciary that combats organized crime and corruption

Investing in People (IIP): FY 2007: $1.69M, Est. FY 2008: $3.20M

• Reform health systems to improve primary and reproductive health care
• Promote high quality health care to combat health threats throughout the country
• Provide protection to the most vulnerable populations

Economic Growth (EG): FY 2007: $6.76M, Est. FY 2008: $5.37M

• Support practices and reforms that promote sustainable economic growth
• Improve the competitiveness and productivity of Albania’s private sector
• Build Albania’s trade and investment capacity by encouraging foreign and domestic investment
• Improve access to reliable energy markets to encourage economic growth

Recent Successes:

• Facilitated access to commerical credit for a number of firms. Through a microcredit program, the USG provided loans with a total value of over $8.0M to 5,165 micro and small enterprises, which helped increase private sector competitiveness.
• More women received birthing information and infant heath care. Almost 76,000 antenatal clinic visits were registered in the health information system during the year, surpassing the target by almost 18%.
• Supported the High Inspectorate for Declaration and Audit of Assets (HIDAA), the audit agency that enforces accountability and transparency in government. HIDAA has played a vital anti-corruption role and was key in dismissing over 100 corrupt officials.
• In June 2007, after working closely with the USG, the Albanian Parliament passed the new State Police Law, a significant step toward professionalizing the state police and addressing corruption. The law brings Albania into compliance with international standards and moves it closer to accession into Euro-Atlantic institutions.

*Division J of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act: Department of State Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008, including: SEED, CSH, NADR, IMET and FMF

**Estimate from FY 2009 Congressional Budget Justification; Website: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/101440.pdf

Graph Explanations:

Pie Chart: For estimated Fiscal Year 2008 to Albania thirty-three percent of U.S. assistance went to Peace and Security (PS), twenty-seven percent to Governing Justly and Democratically (GJD), twenty-five percent to Economic Growth (EG) and fifteen percent to Investing in People (IIP)

The Bar Graph covers U.S. assistance to Albania from 1998-2007:

In Fiscal Year 1992: 29.50 Million dollars in Support for Eastern European Democracies (SEED) assistance was given to Albania; and no other United States Government (USG) assistance was given

• Fiscal Year 1993 SEED: 24.00 Million dollars; other USG: 0 dollars
• Fiscal Year 1994 SEED: 12.46 Million dollars; other USG: 0 dollars
• Fiscal Year 1995 SEED: 26.36 Million dollars; other USG: 0.23 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 1996 SEED: 21.00 Million dollars; other USG: 2.96 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 1997 SEED: 27.10 Million dollars; other USG: 15.77 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 1998 SEED: 27.43 Million dollars; other USG: 17.31 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 1999: SEED: 48.64 Million dollars; other USG: 16.65 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2000: SEED: 31.30 Million dollars; other USG: 2.25 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2001: SEED: 28.13 Million dollars; other USG: 16.96 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2002: SEED: 35.25 Million dollars; other USG: 6.49 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2003: SEED: 28.50 Million dollars; other USG: 20.58 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2004: SEED: 28.13 Million dollars; other USG: 22.24 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2005: SEED: 28.26 Million dollars; other USG: 22.19 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2006: SEED: 25.66 Million dollars; other USG: 14.98 Million dollars
• Fiscal Year 2007: SEED: 21.10 Million dollars; other USG: 9.17 Million dollars