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

This workshop was attended by experts from the CLDP, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, AKBN, the Albanian Geological Survey, the European Institute of Innovation & Technology Regional Center on Raw Materials, as well as representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Tirana.

Two important topics were mainly addressed in this activity: 1) Considerations on the social operation of a mining license, including the Community Benefit Agreement, and 2) Considerations on the administration of the principles of compulsory and voluntary implementation over the life of a mine. Through power point presentations, the first topic was presented by Ms. Catherine Boggs, part-time expert at CLDP and a renowned expert in mining law, while the second topic, by Mr. Winfield Wilson, Legal Advisor at CLDP.