15 -19 October 2007

A team reporting training took place at the Albanian Media Institute on October 15-19, with the participation of ten journalists from print media. The reporters gathered to produce a supplement that was published in daily "Shqip" on October 20. The supplement focused on the topic of visa regime with EU countries and its imminent relief agreement, starting from January 2008.

The participants worked as a team and covered different stories addressing topics related to the existing visa regime and the expected changes. The stories focused on the introduction and detailed explanation of Schengen agreement and its ramifications, the expected changes of the situation starting from next January, the current administration and financial difficulties of the visa regime, as well as the problem of identity cards.

In order to assist their reporting, two key speakers were invited to address this topic: Ditmir Bushati from Agenda Institute and Ilir Qorri from European Movement. They focused on explaining and discussing with the journalists the Schengen Agreement, the Agreement for the Facilitation of the Visa Regime, and the standards Albania needs to meet for the liberalization of the visa regime. This project was supported by Soros Foundation and organized by the Albanian Media Institute and Agenda Institute.