ACTIVITY BRIEFING

Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), Office of the General Council, United States Department of Commerce organized on April 2, 2024 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Tirana “U.S. – Albania Minerals Governance Workshop on Legal and Regulatory Best Practices”. The activity was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Energy and Minerals Governance Program.

Experts from CLDP, Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, National Institute of Natural Resources, Albanian Geological Survey, Regional Innovation Centre of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology on Raw Materials (EIT Rae Material), as well as representatives from the American Embassy in Tirana participated in this Workshop.

From Regional Innovation Center of Raw Material Albania participated director of Center Dr. Ledi Moisiu and Prof.Dr. Perparim Alikaj expert on raw material

Two important topics were primarily covered in the Workshop: 1) the considerations of a mine’s social license to operate, including Community Benefit Agreements, and 2) governance considerations for enforcement and compliance, over the life span of a mine. Through power point presentations, the first topic was presented by Mrs. Catherine Boggs, an Intermittent Expert with CLDP and accomplished mining law expert and the second one by Mr. Winfield Wilson, an Attorney-Adviser with CLDP.

Of particular interest were attended and discussed the concepts of “Social License to Operate” (SLO), “Community Benefits Agreement” (CBA), “Compliance and Reinforcement”, etc.

Mr. Wilson strongly suggested the participation of representatives from Albanian Exploration and Mining Institutions to the Annual Convention of Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, (PDAC) in Toronto, which is considered as the Premier Mineral Exploration and Mining Convention with about 27,000 participants from all over the world.