The World Bank is eager to help Albania address constraints and overcome challenges in making the energy sector competitive and efficient and expanding integration with neighbours, the organization’s eight executive directors told the government in Tirana, headed by prime minister Edi Rama.

The two-day visit organized at the end of last month as part of a regional tour aimed to assess the World Bank Group’s engagement in the energy sector and efforts to support regional connectivity, the press release said, adding that increasing regional cooperation and plans to improve connectivity within Western Balkans started in 2014 with support from the World Bank Group and the European Union.

They shared views on facilitating energy exchange through the establishment of organized electricity markets and the prospects for expanding regional integration. They also discussed the impact of World Bank Group financed operations, like the Power Sector Recovery Program, on energy sector reforms within the Government’s broader structural reform agenda.

The guest officials went to Fierza hydropower station in the Drini river cascade, where they saw progress in the Dam Safety Project and efficiency upgrades, financed by the international institution, as well as other development partners – Swiss Development Agency, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and German KfW.

Efficient development of the Balkan country’s hydropower potential is critical to the success of its growth and anti-poverty agenda, said Karen Mathiasen, who represents the US on the board.