A consortium of Irish government agencies and their international partners has won a €5m EU grant to support Albania as a candidate for accession to the European Union, by strengthening its food safety, veterinary and plant health standards, over the next four years. The consortium is led by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), and includes the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with project management by Sustainable Food Systems Ireland (SFSI). Other partners are the Finnish Food Authority, and an Albanian partner, Creative Business Solutions. The project started with the deployment of an expert team to Tirana in mid-January.