Prishtina, 1 August, 2023
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, tonight in honor of the Diaspora Day, has organized a special reception for the emigrants in the premises of the “Open Balcony of the Government”, which has already been transformed into a pleasant place for meetings and receptions.
Welcoming them, Prime Minister Kurti informed the expatriates present about the visible democratic and economic progress of Kosovo evidenced by all credible international reports, thus mentioning the average economic growth, the increase in tax revenues, exports and foreign direct investments.
At the same time, the increase in jobs, the adoption of the law on the minimum wage, and recently the law on the recognition of the contributions of female workers of the 90s, the prime minister described in front of the expatriates as important steps in the development of Kosovo.
In parallel with these developments, Prime Minister Kurti highlighted that our diaspora has also evolved significantly year after year, expanding our national representation.
“Today we find it in the most successful forms in art, in culture, in sports, finance, and now recently also in political representation in their states, from the municipal level to the central level. Some of them are here among us tonight”, the Prime Minister added.
Further, he introduced the emigrants to the program for public diplomacy “Citizen Diplomacy Fellowship”, which aims to connect with the country of origin through professional engagement, as well as the launch of the “Taste Kosovo” platform, through which emigrants, especially the new generations, they are enabled to get to know the country through cultural, sports and natural activities.
Also, by facilitating the voting process for the emigrants, their active participation increases even more, while in the framework of investments, the prime minister said that we are establishing the Sovereign Fund through which we want to make our compatriots shareholders in our economy.
After all this fruitful and entertaining evening, Prime Minister Kurti, happy for the meeting, thanked all his compatriots.
At this reception, where members and figures from the diaspora, artists, activists, representatives of associations operating in the diaspora and young political representatives there were invited, together with the prime minister, ministers and ministers of the government cabinet and deputy ministers were also present.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Good evening and welcome,
Dear compatriots,
Coincidentally, or maybe not, tomorrow marks one year since we inaugurated the “Open Balcony” here at the Prime Minister. However, we are marking the anniversary tonight because we were right here together, one year ago, since when this space of the government building, which was once unused, has become such a pleasant place for receptions and meetings.
And even a year later, our balcony continues to be open, tonight, for our dear expatriate, for you compatriots. We announced it together. We are celebrating the first anniversary together. We will meet together for many times. Welcome and happy! Cheers!
Kosovo has made significant progress during these last two years. Since the declaration of independence, the progress has been marked both for the people and for society, as well as for the state and institutions. Meanwhile, in these two years of our government, there is no credible international report which has not documented our democratic and economic progress. And again, when we say our progress, we are not thinking about ourselves, we are once again thinking about the people and society, the state and its institutions. We have made important steps in economic development, attracting foreign investments and creating jobs.
The average economic growth in these two years was 7.35% of the gross domestic product. Tax revenues have increased by 2/3, without changing the fiscal policy, and exports and foreign direct investments have doubled. This year we expect to be the first year when exports will exceed the figure of 1 billion euros.
On average, during each year of government, we have added more to our economy than the previous three years combined.
For the first time, the economy has exceeded the figure of 400 thousand active jobs. Employment has been our commitment and priority. This is proof that the many employment policies and measures are working.
We approved the law in the Assembly for increasing the minimum wage in Kosovo, after more than 10 years. Now for workers over 35 years old we have a minimum wage increase of 55%, while for those who are under 35 years old the increase is 103%. With this Law, we have removed the personal income tax for wages up to the minimum wage level. Unfortunately for us, this Law, according to the will of the opposition, ended up in the Constitutional Court and we have to wait for its verdict.
And last week in the Assembly, we also put an end to the injustices against pensioners who were violently left their jobs during the 90s. With the changes made in the law, about 70 thousand pensioners who, if they had not been forced out of work in the 90s, would have reached the condition of 15 years of contribution until January 1, 1999, will now receive their partial pension contributory.
Together with Kosovo, our emigration has also evolved significantly. From the shelter of the activity of the national issue and the source of financial survival in difficult times for the country, it is expanding our national representation year after year. Today we find it in the most successful forms in art, culture, sports, finance, and now recently also in political representation in their states, from the municipal to the central level. Some of them are here among us tonight.
Our diaspora has always been important for our political destiny, our historical efforts for our social well-being. The liberation, the declaration of independence and the creation and construction of the independent state of Kosovo was not possible or even envisioned without our exile. The more we develop the state, the more our ties strengthen. A strong state also reflects a more powerful hermitage and vice versa.
For all this, we are trying to provide the necessary infrastructure.
To strengthen ties, our government, for the first time, implemented the public diplomacy program “Citizen Diplomacy Fellowship”, for which we thanked our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz and her deputy Liza Gashi, which aims to connect with the country of origin through professional engagement. Meanwhile, a few days ago we also launched the “Taste Kosovo” platform, through which emigration, especially among the new generations, will influence them to get to know their country of origin better through cultural, sports and natural activities.
For active participation, we have approved in principle the new election law that facilitates the participation of our expatriates, the voting process for expatriates, enabling voting in embassies and consulates and also voting by mail within the state where our compatriots live, in addition to that the possibility to vote by mail directly in Kosovo or even come to Kosovo when the elections are held.
For investments, we are establishing the Sovereign Fund, which we first talked about six years ago, through which we aim to index our public and private companies in the country’s economy, and we want our compatriots to become shareholders in our economy.
We know that our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers defined wealth as land and houses. However, in the 21st century, we should think about the shares of our companies which are indexed on the stock market in the capital market, and this is exactly what the Sovereign Fund enables, which saves us 42 thousand hectares of agricultural land from illegal constructions and alienation of others. It also puts the 17 public enterprises under one roof, for which we need the support of the diaspora for a professional board and for a chief who is elected for a longer term than the four-year electoral cycles that we have.
You know that in Kosovo you can buy treasury bonds, but you cannot sell them. We need to make our economy more dynamic and the savings of our compatriots do not simply turn into property that is almost dead capital because it is used two weeks a year, as an apartment in Pristina for example, but the day will come when our compatriots instead of maybe even buy a flat in Pristina, buy 0.1% of the shares in Trepça, or in KEK, or in Telekom and so on.
So, we want to invite you not to contribute by sacrificing, but to earn by investing.
Welcome once again and I’m so glad to meet you!
Last modified: August 2, 2023