Prishtina, 7 May, 2024
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, today participated in the conference organized by the Office of the Prime Minister and the German GIZ on the topic, “How non-majority communities can benefit from the Reduction of Administrative Burden”. The German ambassador to Kosovo, Joern Rohde, and the deputy head of the EU mission in Kosovo, Eva Palatova, were also present at this event.
As the keynote speaker, Prime Minister Kurti, in his welcoming speech, said that public administration is the field where we serve the citizens, therefore it is a priority of the Government and that our goal is that every citizen has easy access to public services at a real cost for procedures.
“Reducing the administrative burden is an important step to ensure that all communities in Kosovo have equal opportunities to benefit from government services and resources”, said Prime Minister Kurti, adding that the effort to guarantee equal access to public services for all citizens, is a part of the depth of the process of governance and development of a country.
Prime Minister Kurti mentioned the areas in which the reduction of the administrative burden will have a positive impact. He singled out the field of education, where reducing the administrative burden will facilitate the registration process in educational institutions and increase the opportunities for citizens to benefit from higher education; the field of health, where the reduction of the administrative burden will bring an improvement in access and quality of health care for all citizens; meanwhile, from an economic point of view, such a thing will affect the creation of a more favorable environment for carrying out the necessary procedures for businesses and entrepreneurs.
At the end of his speech, Prime Minister Kurti thanked the Swiss Government for supporting the reform through the project to accelerate the investment climate, implemented by the International Financial Corporation, and the main partners of this process, the European Union and the German Government, who through the project of co-financed to reduce the administrative burden implemented by GIZ, have supported and continue to support the implementation of the Program and the achievement of good results. He added that the Government of the Republic of Kosovo will continuously support the process of reducing the administrative burden, to ensure that all citizens without distinction receive the easiest, fastest and quality services from our public administration.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Thank you Elizabeth.
Dear Minister for Communities and Return, Mr. Nenad Rashiq,
Dear Deputy Ministers, Dobra and Elshani,
The honorable ambassador of Germany in Kosovo, Mr. Joern Rohde,
Honorable deputy head of the European Union Office in Kosovo, Mrs. Eva Palatova,
Dear representatives, development partners,
Dear representatives of the municipalities of Kosovo,
Dear representatives of civil society,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentleman,
It is my pleasure to open this meeting and welcome you all. This meeting is a continuation of the regular meetings that we have held with municipal officials for communities and return, and with non-governmental organizations of communities, but at the same time it is the first time that we are talking about this topic: about the process of reducing the administrative burden and on how non-majority communities can benefit from this process.
Public administration is the field where we serve the citizens, therefore it is a key priority of our Government.
Our goal is that every citizen has easy access to public services, with real costs for procedures. Reducing the administrative burden is an important step to ensure that all communities in Kosovo have equal opportunities to benefit from government services and resources. Through it, we aim to facilitate administrative procedures and reduce the burden on citizens, especially the most marginalized. By doing so, we enable every individual to benefit from the opportunities of economic and social development in our common country. Kosovo needs an efficient and responsible government that fulfills the needs of all citizens, that implements and respects the rights of all citizens regardless of ethnic origin.
The effort to guarantee equal access to public services for all citizens is a part of the depth of the governance and development process of a country. In the context of Kosovo, the ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity of our population must be taken into account.
In order to ensure even wider cooperation, and to raise the standard towards the countries of the European Union, the process of reducing the administrative burden has become one of the main reforming points of the Growth Plan, where one of the main objectives is “Providing affordable services for citizens”, which shows our aim for these services, which should be low-cost, do not take time and do not cause irritation and dissatisfaction of citizens. This includes the reduction of required documentation, the facilitation of application processes through digitization and the improvement of services provided by public institutions.
In the field of education, reducing the administrative burden will facilitate the registration process in educational institutions and increase the opportunity for citizens to benefit from higher education. In health, the reduction of the administrative burden will bring an improvement in the access and quality of health care for all citizens, including the communities that we have seen that until now do not have an easy time to benefit from health services.
In economic terms, it will affect the creation of a more favorable environment for carrying out the necessary procedures for businesses and entrepreneurs. With this, investments will increase and new jobs will be created. This is how we can have the economic growth and development of the country in general, bringing significant benefits to all citizens, including non-majority communities.
To achieve these goals, under the supervision of the First Deputy Prime Minister, for European Integration, Development and Dialogue, Besnik Bislimi, the Government has already approved documents, taken measures, provided a budget and started the processes through a comprehensive, sustainable and which has shown results in these last two years, and which will be revealed today.
In order to intensify the work at the local level for the process of reducing the administrative burden, the Government in cooperation with the International Financial Corporation, IFC has simplified a high number of services in three municipalities, while with the support of GIZ it has started simplifying services in five other municipalities. Two of these municipalities where the process has started and where there is a higher presence of national minorities are Dragashi and Graçanica.
In order to motivate the efforts of the municipalities in reducing the administrative burden, the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, has already started the process of setting the indicator in the Municipal Performance Grant, so that all municipalities are included in the process, and all perform well in providing services to their citizens.
Of course, the implementation of such a reform requires good communication and coordination with our development partners, who have helped our Office for Strategic Planning to achieve good results in the process of reducing the administrative burden. Therefore, I take the opportunity to thank the Swiss Government, which supports the reform through the project to accelerate the investment climate, implemented by the International Finance Corporation. Also, we thank the main partners in this process, the European Union and the German Government, who, through the co-financed project for reducing the administrative burden implemented by GIZ, have supported and continue to support the implementation of the Program and the achievement of good results.
I must point out that we have already completed intergovernmental negotiations with Germany, where we have already submitted our requests for additional support in the administrative burden process for next year. However, through Ambassador Rohde, I am using the opportunity to invite once again for even greater support of this process, also through joint financing, especially those with a focus on non-majority communities.
In the end, as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, I will continuously support the process of reducing the administrative burden in the future, to ensure that all citizens without differences receive the easiest, fastest and quality services from our public administration.
I am happy that today in this format and in this composition, there will be consultations and exchange of ideas, suggestions and proposals, which can ensure the best possible access to the service of all citizens, without distinction. Such conversations and discussions, like here today, all of us together, always welcome them as the Government of the Republic of Kosovo.
Thank you for the contribution you are making and we promise that you will always have us by your side in the following engagements.
Thank you.
Last modified: May 8, 2024