Prizren, November 22, 2022
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti participated in the Conference for Youth 2022, “Towards a national policy” organized in Prizren by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Every opportunity to speak directly to the youth is a special pleasure for me. I was informed that here there are many different groups and associations of activists representing at least sixteen municipalities, from Peja to Kamenica, from Dragash to Mitrovica and all municipalities within and in between, said Prime Minister Kurti.
We are working for our youth to become an active part, formal and informal, in the service of general change. Therefore, we have established Youth State Commission, as an intergovernmental coordination mechanism at the political level, which meets every three months, the prime minister said.
In order to facilitate and improve the employment of young people, the Government has supported practical work in public institutions, 100 of them for minority communities, as well as training young people through programs and giving vouchers for courses in industry, with priority in information technology. Meanwhile, the Government has supported citizens, including students, through two financial packages, i.e. the Economic Recovery Package, which started last year and continued this year, and the Inflation Package.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the Guaranteed Employment Scheme for young people will soon be launched, which will be applied in Kosovo with transformative potential for their employment.
“The guarantee here is that every young person is engaged in work or education. So, employment or education, and with the launch of the Citizen Diplomacy Program we have the first group of 10 young professionals from diaspora, who have returned to Kosovo and will contribute for six months in a row”, said the Prime Minister.
Our duty to young people, beyond the programs that serve you directly, is to strengthen the state internally and externally and to develop the economy to serve everyone without exception. More economic activity means more money for the state, which means more investment in education, security, health and social welfare, he emphasized.
The Prime Minister emphasized that for the Government, there are four principles on which we are reforming and building our youth policy:
Youth development extends beyond ministerial lines with a broad perspective on factors that affect their lives;
Involvement and participation of young people in decision-making processes and this is necessary for policy-making;
As long as there is involvement from all public institutions, there must be a responsible authority that directs, coordinates and monitors the policies of the institutions; and,
It must be invested in youth, so, there must be a significant budget for cross-sectoral measures within the umbrella of a comprehensive state strategy.
At the Youth Conference, the prime minister requested that this event serve not only as a platform for discussion, but also as a platform for the exchange of values, ideas and initiatives of young people.
Your task, he further added, is to, with love and optimism for the country, push society towards a more stable and inclusive future for everyone, which does not exclude anyone, that means it does not discriminate or privilege.
Prime Minister Kurti’s full speech:
Honorable Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade Mrs. Rozeta Hajdari,
Honorable Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Mr. Hekuran Murat,
Dear Deputy Minister, Daulina Osmani at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports,
Dear members of the Assembly of the Republic, most of them are young and some of them are not young at all, although the efforts cannot be denied,
Dear participants of this very important organization,
Dear Ms. Spence, United Nations Coordinator in Kosovo,
Dear participants,
I am very happy that today I see many young men and women, full of enthusiasm and will, to be an active part and contribute towards progressive changes in our country.
Every opportunity to speak directly to the youth is a special pleasure for me. I was informed that here there are many different groups and associations of activists representing at least sixteen municipalities, from Peja to Kamenica, from Dragash to Mitrovica and all municipalities within and in between. Therefore, every commitment and activity for the community or the city of all of you and each of you should be applauded.
From what I heard, the shuttle for most of you has left at 7:30am. I don’t know if you are leaving so early because of the big commitment for this conference, or maybe some of you have run away from school or university obligations? Anyway, I can say this now since the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Mrs. Arbëri Nagavci will be late, and it is not among us yet.
Young men and women have many ideas and enthusiasm for participating in politics. We have seen campaigns, voluntary and humanitarian activities, organizations by young people whose goal is to improve life in communities, in cities and in different countries of the world. We also have this commitment with our young people.
And, despite this, it has also been observed that institutions in Kosovo have somehow not communicated sufficiently with them, nor with each other for them, and these must change. We are working for our youth to become an active part, formal and informal, in the service of general change. Therefore, we have established Youth State Commission, as an intergovernmental coordination mechanism at the political level, which meets every three months.
Within a few months of governance, we launched the Youth Dialogue, the report of which you received today. Through this Dialogue, all stakeholders of the sector were interviewed in meetings, surveying over 300 individuals and 35 youth organizations. A Youth Concept Document has been drawn up, which will pave the way for the biggest reforms in the youth sector, which had started but had never been completed before.
Today we are together, at the 2022 Youth Conference, a new, direct platform for connecting young people with political decision makers. For our Government, there are four principles on which we are reforming and building our youth policy: First,
1. Youth development extends beyond ministerial lines with a broad perspective on factors that affect their lives;
2. Involvement and participation of young people in decision-making processes and this is necessary for policy-making;
3. As long as there is involvement from all public institutions, there must be a responsible authority that directs, coordinates and monitors the policies of the institutions; and,
4. It must be invested in youth, so, there must be a significant budget for cross-sectoral measures within the umbrella of a comprehensive state strategy.
Dear attendees and dear ministers,
These principles are leading us towards a common vision where youth development is the duty and priority of every public institution. 2023 is the year when this vision is brought to life in several concrete forms – through new legal framework with the Youth Draft Law, and through cross-sectoral programs with National Youth Strategy.
We have already launched important measures in various sectors. In addition to making higher education free, this year the Education budget was 12 percent higher than last year, which means higher than the country’s economic growth. At the same time, we also distributed scholarships for university studies in country and abroad. Here in particular I want to mention the 1,365 scholarships for girls in STEM fields, 500 scholarships for young people from minority communities, and this year we continued with the awarding of 20 other scholarships for students studying at prestigious universities in the world.
In order to facilitate and improve young people employment, so far we have supported practical work in public institutions, 100 of them for minority communities, as well as training young people through programs, and giving vouchers for courses in industry, with priority in technology information. While citizens, including students, we have supported them through two financial packages, i.e. the Economic Recovery Package, that started last year and continued this year and the Inflation Package.
The Youth Employment Guarantee Scheme will soon be launched and will be applied in Kosovo with transformative potential for their employment. “The guarantee here is that every young person is engaged in work or education. So, employment or education, and with the launch of the Citizen Diplomacy Program we have the first group of 10 young professionals from diaspora, who have returned to Kosovo and will contribute for six months in a row.
Our duty to young people, beyond the programs that serve you directly, is to strengthen the state internally and externally , and to develop the economy to serve everyone without exception. More economic activity means more money for the state, which means more investment in education, security, health and social welfare.
Dear participants of this conference,
Let this event serve not only as a discussion platform, but also as a platform for exchanging your values, ideas and initiatives. Beyond looking towards the stage, look to the side, left, right, who you are close to and can work with, how you can help yourself by helping each other and the whole society. In my political journey, a lesson that has been conveyed to me is that acting alone no one can succeed. To the extent that you join with others it turns into success for all and each.
The successes of our youth in film, art, sports, business and technology are beyond the ordinary, and out of proportion to the number of people in our country, especially given the context of our history and to the difficulties we face, to which a multiple crisis has been added in recent years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the energy crisis and inflation. But I know that we also have a lot of talent in our society, and country, which lies hidden somewhere, undiscovered, unused and untapped.
My wish is to close the gap between talent and opportunities, the gap between talent and opportunities for the new generations, not only to represent us abroad but also to shape and build the state internally.
The challenges of the 21st century such as economic inequality, climate change and extremism are challenges that transcend government mandates. Our job now is to remove the barriers to your engagement and offer you opportunities beyond what our generation has had. Each generation is not responsible for the world as it finds it, but it is still responsible for what it does when it lives and acts and for the world it leaves behind for the generations to come.
Your task is to, with love and optimism for the country, push society towards a more stable and inclusive future for everyone that does not exclude anyone, that is, it does not discriminate or privilege.
Thank you very much and I wish you good luck!
Last modified: November 24, 2022