Prishtina, 2 August 2022
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosova, Albin Kurti, has organized a reception event for our fellow countrymen at the balcony of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Among many activities organized by the institutions for the diaspora, such as the “Diaspora Caravan”, meetings in the Assembly, meetings in Ministries and public places, meetings in cultural events, tonight Prime Minister held a reception event with fellow countrymen from the field of art and culture, as well as with professionals of various fields, to converse closely about the new ideas and opportunities for cooperation with the diaspora.
The Prime Minister welcomed fellow countrymen to Kosovo and Prishtina. “As Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosova, I welcomed the initiative of the Office of the Prime Minister staff to organize the “Open Balcony”, he said.
In his speech, the Prime Minister emphasized the Government’s decision to approve the Program for Citizen Diplomacy, which aims to actively involve diaspora in politics, and aims to strengthen connection of diaspora with Kosova, creating opportunities for direct involvement. This initiative enables our fellow countrymen to come to our institutions and perform official and practical work for up to six months, to contribute to our foreign policy and qualitative Foreign Service of the Republic of Kosovo. The Prime Minister further said that “this shows that we do not see our fellow countrymen only as financial capital, but also as human capital”.
Considering that each of our fellow countrymen in diaspora is a diplomat, and this is not accidental, because as Chief Diplomat in the Republic of Kosova now we have an outstanding compatriot and fellow countryman, a tireless activist and the daughter of our hero Jusuf Gërvalla. Therefore, there was no better name and initiative than that for Citizen Diplomacy, he said.
To that famous saying, a bit pessimistic, that our fellow countrymen are feeling that they don’t belong neither there nor here, the Prime Minister said that we respond to that on contrary, which we believe is the truth, you belong both there and here, you are physically most of the year away from your homeland, and yet always within the nation.
While many decades ago we were generally manual labourers in Western Europe, in the United Kingdom, in the United States of America and as far away as Australia, now Albanians wherever they live, work, operate, reside are engineers, doctors, artists and sportsmen, they are people of culture and knowledge, of various skills, both men and women, young and old. This way, we contribute to the image of our country, but also to the economy, society and culture of the countries where they are, said the Prime Minister.
According to the Central Bank of Kosova, in the last 5 years our fellow countrymen have brought more than EUR 6 billion through official channels. Out these more than EUR 6 billion, ¾ are remittances, remittances to families, friends, well-wishers, while ¼ are investments to our economy. Now, since our economy is growing, as corruption is being fought and because the optimism of the citizens of the Republic is to invest and reinvest, this time we do not call our diaspora to return to contribute by sacrificing, instead to return and profit by investing, said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister further said that “in our growth, you are a very important factor, and we believe that you can be an even more important factor in further growth”.
Prime Minister Kurti appreciated the fellow countrymen for never forgetting Kosova, their homeland, and regardless of whether we are at war or at peace, whether we are in rapid growth or even in stagnation and backwardness, you have always returned to your country to ease the pain of missing home and family, but also to help and support your homeland.
We owe you a lot, a debt that we do not pretend to pay off, because we know it is impossible, but with good policies and close cooperation, we are convinced that we can at least pay off a small part of this debt, which is so big that it is incalculable, said Prime Minister Kurti.
Last modified: August 3, 2022