The key political outcome of the Drin Dialogue was the signing of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding for the Management of the Extended Transboundary Drin Basin’ (Drin MoU, Tirana, 25 November 2011) by the ministers responsible for the management of water and the environment of the riparians.
The Drin MoU identifies short-, medium- and long-term actions to address problems identified as affecting sustainable development in the entire Drin Basin and in one or more of its sub-basins. The preparation of an Integrated Drin Basin Management Plan is the long-term objective. To achieve that, a process called the Drin Coordinated Action was put in place, succeeding the Drin Dialogue.
While the process is on-going, a number of activities have already been implemented under the Drin Coordinated Action, responding to the Drin MoU which defines the steps and the conditions for its implementation.
The Drin Action Plan (DAP) was prepared to facilitate implementation of the Drin MoU and operationalize the Drin Coordinated Action. Resources for the full implementation of the DAP activities have been secured through the Global Environment Facility9 (GEF) which supports the project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the Extended Drin River Basin” (GEF Drin project).
The documented enhancement of cooperation in the Drin Basin demonstrates the success of the approach practiced, i.e. working both top-down, using high-level meetings, and bottom-up, through stakeholder consultations at national and regional levels.
While continuing to build a knowledge base and advancing the policy instruments, the time is ripe for advancing joint institutional structures and launching implementation in response to agreed principles and priorities.
The ultimate goal of the ongoing work in the Drin Basin is to reach a point in the medium term where the scale of management is elevated from water bodies to the interconnected hydrological system of the Drin Basin. The primary aim is to move from the sharing of waters between states and conflicting uses to a proper application of international water law and the sharing of benefits between riparians and stakeholders, in a basin where all its parts are physically, culturally and historically interconnected.