Policy paper

United Kingdom-Albania Home Affairs Dialogue 2026: joint statement

Published 1 May 2026

Preamble

The UK Home Office and Albanian Ministry of Internal Affairs came together for the United Kingdom-Albania Home Affairs Dialogue in London on 29 April 2026. This Dialogue reaffirmed the United Kingdom’s and Albania’s shared determination to deepen cooperation on shared home affairs priorities, with a particular focus on tackling serious and organised crime, illicit finance, border security and irregular migration.

This Dialogue forms part of the wider framework established by the UK–Albania Strategic Partnership, agreed during the UK Prime Ministerial visit to Albania on 15 May 2025. The talks reinforced the steadfast relationship between Albania and the United Kingdom and confirmed both Governments agreement to take forward clear commitments on agreed areas of priority focus.

Strengthening strategic alignment and deepening cooperation on SOC

The United Kingdom and Albania welcomed the excellent cooperation between their law enforcement and justice authorities in tackling serious and organised crime. Both sides reiterated their shared commitment to identifying, disrupting and prosecuting serious organised criminals linked to the United Kingdom and Albania involved in illegal activity globally, and to combatting the illicit financial flows that underpin these crimes.

The Dialogue agreed to deepen law enforcement cooperation through strengthened system-wide engagement, building on successful operational collaboration with Albanian law enforcement and justice institutions. This will include enhanced joint actions to strengthen digital evidence-gathering capabilities to tackle organised criminality, including cybercrime.

The United Kingdom and Albania committed to close strategic alignment, increased information-sharing on criminal cases, and continued cooperation to enhance forensic capability in Albania, including in support of cases with a United Kingdom nexus. The UK and Albania also reaffirmed their commitment to disrupt and arrest the serious organised crime groups operating at the highest levels of criminality in line with their agreed commitments from the Berlin process.

Strengthening institutional resilience, illicit finance and system reform

Both sides recognised illicit finance as a cross-cutting symptom and enabler of serious and organised crime and a threat to integrity, economic reform and public trust. The Dialogue underscored the importance of strengthening Albanian institutional resilience to prevent the misuse of the financial system and to deny criminals the proceeds of their activity.

The United Kingdom reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Albania’s efforts to strengthen integrity, combat corruption and build effective, accountable justice institutions. Cooperation will continue to focus on improving asset recovery outcomes through the development of the Albanian Asset Recovery Office, strengthening district-level investigative and policing capabilities, improving the consistency and quality of case development and operational outcomes, and addressing vulnerabilities in sectors at risk of exploitation.

Both governments agreed the Illicit Finance Summit in 2026 is an important milestone for advancing transparency, accountability and partnership-based approaches to tackling illicit finance. Albania agreed to take forward three commitments within the Illicit Finance Summit aligned with the Albanian Ministry of Internal Affairs Serious and Organised Crime Strategy.

Reinforcing border security through joint cooperation

The Dialogue recognised the strong cooperation between Albania and the United Kingdom on border security and migration, including through the regional Joint Migration Taskforce. Both sides emphasised the importance of preventing and disrupting irregular migration routes that facilitate organised criminality in the United Kingdom.

In this context, the need to reduce irregular migration of Albanian nationals to the United Kingdom to undertake illegal activity was underscored. The United Kingdom and Albania agreed to work to respond to evolving migration trends, including through strengthening data-sharing and risk-profiling arrangements, and to work together on sustainable solutions in Albania to address the drivers of irregular migration. Albania also highlighted its role in shaping strategic approaches to region-wide organised immigration crime.

Overview

Albania and the United Kingdom’s joint work on these issues demonstrate the depth of the relationship between the two countries and our shared desire to disrupt serious organised crime and dismantle the serious organised criminal groups that profit from this activity to the detriment of our citizens.

Albania and the United Kingdom committed to jointly monitor progress against these commitments in advance of the next Home Affairs Dialogue to be hosted by Albania in 2027.