REC Directors from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Türkiye meet in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on June 7th 2022 to launch a partnership with the Regional Environmental Institute (REI), a think tank established within the European Public Law Organization (EPLO).

The European Public Law Organization (EPLO) is an international organization, established in 2007 in Athens (Greece) for the creation and dissemination of knowledge in Public Law and Governance. To date, it has developed, organized, promoted, and supported over 200 educational, research, training, institution building and other activities, and has provided assistance to democratic institutions in more than 70 countries. The organization includes 20 entities – international or national schools, academies, institutes, and centers – as well as three EPLO’s missions to the United Nations, in New York, Geneva, and Vienna.

The EPLO’s Regional Environmental Institute (REI) was established in November 2021, with the mission to assist beneficiary countries in addressing a broad range of issues related to Environment and Climate Change, through the implementation of projects (research and development, policy upgrade and implementation, technical assistance, capacity building projects, etc.), and the provision of education.

While the target region of REI, intended on a longer run, includes the Central and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean, its initial activities are focused on the South-Eastern Europe. As the first outcome, a regional network of REI’s units, covering the Western Balkans region, Bulgaria, and Turkey, was established in June 2022. The network is composed of the national organizations safeguarding and building on the heritage of the former Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), who joined their forces to create synergies and increase their overall effectiveness and impact in continuing REC’s mission in the target region. The network is respectable, not only in terms of geographical scope, but also in terms of capacity, expertise and experience in REI’s areas of work, including a reach experience of REI’s units in working together within the framework of the former REC.

REC Albania, re-established in 2018 as The Resource Environmental Center Albania, after the dissolution of the Regional Environmental Center, acknowledges the establishment of REI as the regional dimension of the REC Network in the region. “Regional environmental challenges and solutions require continuous cooperation and coordination among the environmental actors in our countries. Through REI, REC Albania will continue to channel to Albania the best regional experience and expertise on solving the environtal problems and support the country European integration processes” said Mr. Mihallaq Qirjo, the Director of REC Albania.