Minister Gjiknuri opens Energy Community Summer School

The first Energy Community Summer School kicked off on September 3 in Tirana with an opening speech by Albanian minister of energy and industry Damian Gjiknuri. The eight-day event gathered 40 postgraduate students and young professionals representing 27 nationalities, the announcement said.

Gjiknuri spoke about reforms in Albania’s energy sector. The press release added his speech was complemented by ’The Energy Community Story’ told by Janez Kopač, director of the organization’s secretariat. It referred to challenges of energy reform and integration in the bloc. Some of the issues are included in the programme.

The summer school consists of 32 expert lectures and interactive group works as well as networking opportunities and cultural activities to discover Albania, the Vienna-based institution stated. The event covers energy sector in its political, economic, environmental, legal and technical aspects, according to the Energy Community.

Support was received by the GIZ Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE), which is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by GIZ ORF-EE, the Višegrad Fund and Polis University.

During the opening ceremony, participants were also welcomed by Besnik Aliaj, rector of Polis University, Dirk Buschle, the secretariat’s deputy director and summer school dean, and Hans-Jürgen Cassens, country director of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).