The European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) has announced that Albania has been chosen to host the inaugural edition of CONNECT, the Society’s new collaborative congress model designed to strengthen engagement with national anaesthesiology and intensive care societies across Europe. The first meeting, CONNECT.Albania 2026, will take place in Tirana on 6–7 November 2026 and will be organised by the Albanian Society of Anaesthesiologists and Intensivists (ASAI) in partnership with ESAIC.
CONNECT represents a new approach to delivering high-quality perioperative and intensive care education in countries where hosting a full-scale Euroanaesthesia congress is not feasible. Conceived as a compact two-day scientific meeting, CONNECT aims to maintain ESAIC’s academic standards while providing a flexible, accessible, and collaborative format that directly supports national professional development. By bringing European expertise to local settings, the initiative seeks to expand educational opportunities and strengthen long-term cooperation between ESAIC and national societies.
In its announcement, ESAIC underlined that ASAI’s proposal demonstrated strong alignment with the vision for CONNECT, reflecting both the society’s commitment to advancing perioperative and intensive care practice in Albania and its readiness to co-develop a high-quality scientific programme together with ESAIC. The ESAIC leadership highlighted that CONNECT is intended to become the organisation’s annual autumn meeting, rotating between European countries and offering a platform for shared scientific exchange, international visibility, and community building.
ASAI President Prof. Saimir Kuçi welcomed the decision as a significant milestone for anaesthesiology and intensive care in Albania and the wider region. He noted that CONNECT.Albania 2026 will bring the European scientific community to Tirana, broaden training opportunities, and introduce new perspectives in areas such as simulation-based education, patient safety, and sustainable perioperative care. The collaboration with ESAIC, he emphasised, reflects the Society’s trust in Albania’s professional community and contributes to strengthening clinical standards and patient outcomes.
CONNECT.Albania 2026 will be held in English and accredited by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME). The programme, venue details, and registration information will be announced in the coming months through connect.esaic.org.
