Two more successes in the BESP project. On 12 September 2024, the BESP project celebrated the official signing of Albania joining the HCCH Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgements in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019 Judgments Convention).
Ms. Evi Naku, Head of Cabinet of the Minister of Justice, signed, on behalf of the Republic of Albania and the signed copy of the Convention was deposited at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which has the constitutional obligation to safekeep international treaties.
On behalf of the BESP Project, the ceremony was attended by representatives of the Dutch Government. UIHJ was represented by its first vice-president and Lead Expert in the BESP project Mr. Jos Uitdehaag and Ms. Zlaty Mihailova, member of the UIHJ expert team and Project Manager of BESP project.
On 19 September 2024, H. E. Dr Dren Doli, Ambassador to the Netherlands, signed, on behalf of Kosovo, the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (2005 Choice of Court Convention) and the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019 Judgments Convention).
The BESP project has been actively promoting the 2019 Judgments Convention, organizing national roundtables among legal professionals and international forums in the Western Balkans. It facilitated and supported Albania’s and Kosovo’s course into acceding to the Convention. The 2019 Judgments Convention will enter into force for Albania and Kosovo after it is ratified by Parliament. Currently, 30 HCCH Members are either bound by the Convention or a Contracting Party for which the Convention has not entered into force yet (United Kingdom and Uruguay). The EU countries acceded jointly and with the support of BESP, Montenegro and North Macedonia also signed the Convention and became party to it in 2023.
