OSCE Presence supports exchange workshop to Slovenia for journalists covering parliamentary affairs in Albania

Eleven journalists covering parliamentary affairs from different media outlets in Albania and staff of the Communication Service of the Assembly of Albania traveled to Ljubljana, from 27 to 29 October, to share experiences with their Slovenian counterparts and learn from their best practices. The OSCE Presence in Albania organized the exchange workshop with the aim of supporting journalists in improving the quality of their work, as well as bringing parliament closer to citizens. Similar visits took place in North Macedonia in April and in Austria in September 2022.

In Slovenia, participants made a tour of parliament premises and met with the Secretary General and the Head of Communication and Public Affairs Department of Slovenian parliament. Vivid discussions focused on co-operation with media, parliamentary reporting and institutional outreach to citizens through the media. The Slovenian officials answered questions on the functions of Slovenia parliament, work of the parliamentary committees and their approach to the media.

The Albanian journalists also met with representatives of the Slovenian public channel dedicated to parliamentary affairs, the Slovene Association of Journalists, the Slovenian Press Agency, and learned about their functioning, media situation and media relations with parliament, the government and political subjects in general.

At the end of the meetings, the Albanian journalists sat at a discussion table with Albanian Assembly and OSCE Presence staff to reflect about their exchange visits in all three parliaments. They proposed the organization of periodic meetings to be informed in detail about parliamentary affairs, and invited for the Presence’s continued support.

This event was organized as part of the “Support to parliament and civic education in Albania” project, which is supported by the OSCE Presence in Albania and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.