The two-day event will start with the Forum organised by the Regional Cooperation Council and NALAS, with the support of the Municipality of Tirana on 12 October, ‘Green Cities – Exchanging Experiences across the region’.

On 13th of October, the Ministry of Interior of Albania, the Agency for the Support of Local Self-Government and the Association of Local Autonomy, with the support of the EU funded ‘Municipalities for Europe’ and ‘EU for Municipalities’ projects, will conduct a Local Government Forum focusing on EU integration and the role of local governments that will bring together Mayors from Albania and the Western Balkans to share good practices on:

• the structural roles of municipalities and their associations in the EU accession process
• on EU financial assistance for local governments and local communities – capacities, systems and lessons learned to support municipalities access EU financial assistance.

RCC, NALAS and the Albanian Presidency of the Berlin process initiate with this forum a regional platform for dialogue between Mayors and local governments from the Western Balkans to share good practices on the role of municipalities on the EU Green Deal and the EU accession process for the Western Balkans. At the same time, it aims to institutionalise the Local Government Forum within the Berlin Process Summits as a practice to foster intergovernmental dialogue, cooperation, and coordination on EU integration.