Tirana, 19 October 2020 - Tirana International Airport (TIA) and National Civil Protection Agency signed the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation "On Disaster Risk Reduction and Civil Protection". The Memorandum aims to create a collaborative framework on disaster risk reduction and civil protection at Tirana International Airport, as well as the clear definition of rights and obligations in accordance with Law 45/2019, "On Civil Protection" in the Republic of Albania.

The Memorandum was signed between the General Director of National Civil Protection Agency, Mr. Haki Çako and the managing authorities of Tirana International Airport, Dr. Constantin von Alvensleben, Chief Executive Officer of TIA and Mr. Volker Wendefeuer, Chief Operation Officer of TIA.

“Today is a very good day, because today we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Director of Civil Protection Agency of the Government of Albania. This memorandum is very important, obviously we all hope that there will be no emergency cases and no accident. But in the long life of an airport such situations can always happen and then fast and efficient and professional reactions are required. We are happy that we have achieved very good common understanding and, on this basis, a good cooperation can be continued” said Dr. Constantin von Alvensleben,  CEO of TIA.

“We have been cooperating for a long time regarding the modeling and concretization of this memorandum which consists of an ongoing cooperation between Tirana International Airport and the structures of Civil Emergencies and other operational authorities in Albania regarding the prevention of natural and other disasters and incidents.  I would like to thank the authorities for the readiness, cooperation and predisposition they have shown in the contributions they are making to increase the capacity of operational structures of civil protection structures in the country”, said Mr. Haki Çako,  General Director of National Civil Protection Agency.

“We started one year ago and a couple of sessions and we reached today the result of our cooperation. I am very positive that this cooperation will continue in the future and become even stronger because we need each other and we need the support of each other”, added Mr. Volker Wendefeuer, COO of Tirana International Airport.

After the signing of this Memorandum, an emergency exercise was carried out, simulating an emergency situation in the territory of the International Airport "Nënë Tereza", with the participation of operational structures of the Air Force, State Police, Rescue and Fire Fighting Department, and airport management structures.