President of Albania Bajram Begaj visited eGA
On 5 September, President of Albania Bajram Begaj visited eGA’s Tallinn office during his state visit to Estonia; he gained an overview of eGA´s capacity building activities in Albania and discussed future prospects.
Since 2022 eGA and Estonian cyber experts have been working closely with Albanian officials and decisionmakers to improve cybersecurity capabilities and preparedness in dealing with cyber incidents and risk management. The activities kicked off after Albania suffered from large-scale cyberattacks.
President Begaj acknowledged the work of eGA experts and emphasised that the cyberattacks in 2022 created the need to think differently and to learn from that experience.
“Recovering from cyber crises requires not only technical know-how and expertise but also an international collaboration, a correct risk management and an adequate impact assessment,” noted Hannes Astok, Executive Director of eGA.
Within EU-supported projects eGA experts and partners have organised numerous technical trainings and workshops for Albania officials ranging from information security risk management to implementation of EU Cybersecurity Law.
To enhance regional and international cooperation in cyber, eGA and Cybexer Technologies organised a substantial regional cyber exercise in Tirana for strategic and technical experts of Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia in 2023. That exercise was jointly visited by the Estonian and Albanian presidents. Furthermore, numerous Estonian IT experts have advised their Albanian counterparts in reforming the National Cyber Security Authority of Albania (AKSK).
The parties also discussed upcoming events such as Tallinn Summer School of Cyber Diplomacy, where Albanian cybersecurity officials are warmly welcome. Also, the Tallinn Digital Summit in November will feature a high-level discussion on Western Balkan digital security.
In 2024, eGA is implementing two EU-funded cybersecurity projects in total amount of 7,6 million euros in Albania and the wider Western Balkan region – second phase of the “Cybersecurity Rapid Response Project for Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia” (2024-2025) and “Cyber Balkans” (2023-2026). All these efforts are focused at enhancing the cyber resilience of the Western Balkans in compliance with EU acquis and best practices by improving cybersecurity prevention, preparedness, and response.
