Prishtina, 12 August 2022
On the International Youth Day, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo participated in the session organized in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, by the Group of Young Deputies, to mark this day.
After this session, Prime Minister Kurti participated in the opening of the fair of youth initiatives in the Republic of Kosovo.
The full speech of the Prime Minister Kurti:
Dear young people of the Republic of Kosovo,
Dear Members,
the purpose of this meeting is clear: the relationship of public and economic policies with a generation, with youth. And when it comes to this relationship between politics and youth, we must always keep four things in mind:
– First, the youth mass in any country is the largest energetic and creative mass;
– Second, in our country, in spite of many other western and especially European countries, youth is the largest human mass, the average age in Kosovo is 30 years old and 2/3 are under 35 years old;
– That the youth is part of the population that would suffer our mistakes, failures and delays;
– and the fourth, that the youth will see half a century after us, the destinies and the state of humanity and the world.
When we address young people, we need maturity, imagination, sociological knowledge. There can be no youth policy without the union of these two premises. For our part, we must know well the levels of activities and needs of general construction. And for its part, youth should offer us the greatest number of desires and passions. As we speak here today, we are aware of the global performance of production and employment. Although we are not a big country, we are fortunate to have the highest number of young people in Europe for a given population. We are aware that we have a natural right to the talent and energy of advanced societies. Because, everyone in this hall and outside it, we are convinced that talent knows no citizenship. Talent knows only seriousness. We must therefore be serious with the most energetic part of our society, with the youth.
In our governing program we have insisted on the efficiency of the dual system. Who better than us, with such a young and large population, can fulfil the criteria of such a system. The dual system is the basis of the development. The connection between education and the economy.
Linking vocational education with the labour market. If there is one thing that is more important than both the economy and education, I have the impression that it is the connection between these two. So the connection of education with employment or the bridge that enables, that the diploma from the school or faculty also brings a job in the economy of Kosovo.
So practice and theory, dual system. We need a conscious university body, modern and productive technical and professional schools, productive initiatives and investments, maximum use of the natural data we have. We need to intersect the administrative clarity of human resources with the diverse passion of youth. Political maturity and youthful passion, this should be our motto.
Allow me a comparison, of the truth of which I am very convinced. Working with youth is similar to working with nature, and in both cases we are dealing with ecology. Ecology as protection of nature, ecology as protection of man. By protecting youth, we protect society, we protect ourselves.
Because to awaken and protect the abilities of youth, means to ensure the person for the next decades. Investing in youth is the most long-term investment. In ecology, renewable energy sources are being talked about. The same should be said about youth, because youth is the renewal of a people.
I believe that young people should expand the field of action. We’ve had crafts, but technology mistakenly seems to have rendered them useless. Don’t forget, nature is looking for organic products. Even in the field of production of everyday life items, craftsmanship is thought of and valued today as organic production. We need high production and industry, but we also need local and authentic production. Our crafts produced organic products, because these expressed and protected locally the ability and talent of man. In addition to the industry that is universal in the world, we also need handcraft products that are from us, to us, for us and others.
We must bring investments, but we must also organize the conditions of an authentic quality production, which can be appropriate for the use of energy and for the use of the ability and talent, especially of the youth. We need not only the talented athlete, but also the excellent craftsman, we need not only the successful musician, but also the creative farmer. It is easy for us to measure the help we will give to agriculture, since the support given by the government is calculable for the number of population, market needs, and land area. But precisely for the measure of a people’s talent, no government, no matter how far-sighted, can guarantee a stable knowledge.
The government must see the big investment projects, the young man must see the possible projects with his life. And this is the cooperation that we have to do with each other.
Society must ask the university, but society itself must be guided by the initiatives of institutes and organizations. Because sociological studies are not the monopoly of the university body, nor of government programs, but of the whole society.
So temper yourself, rise, as individuals, but also form as many associations, organizations towards institutes and the state. Because individuals become more skilled and better when they are together and when they stay and work together.
I once again take advantage of the opportunity to greet and congratulate all those young men and women who, with their international successes, have proven the power of our youth and have become an example for all youth. Each of you when you come into the public sphere becomes an example for others, because someone sees you. You may not be aware that you are an example, but you are an example because others see you that way and follow you. And the more they follow, the more supporters there will be, and in all these supporters, both society and the state eventually supported.
With examples in the arts and sports, in music, in cinema, in judo and football, to mention only these examples, we have also shown that we can succeed in other fields as well. With their success, they have expanded the field of our passions.
All successful people encourage others to engage in the fields of activity where they are successful.
We have successes in other fields as well, so we must make these successes equally loud and visible. If other societies are aging, we are a young society. Our youth is not phlegmatic, because it is the descendant of the generation of war and resistance. All your parents participated in the resistance and the war, and you are their children, therefore you cannot be passive and phlegmatic, and this represents an extraordinary wealth and opportunity for our country.
Let me repeat this one more time. If our youth knows the history of the previous generation, it will not be difficult to avoid the general phlegm. Therefore, education with the history of our people is essential. Each youth generation will find its authenticity in the legacy of the achievements of a generation. Because we went from parallel society to the successes of our artists and athletes.
In their success, even if we haven’t noticed a thing, there is always something from history. In every successful person, it is not only our present but also our history, it is your parents and grandparents.
If our young people are leaving the country, I am sure that we, as a society, still find the connection with the homeland insoluble. That’s why I wish and believe that the connection with talent should be as unbreakable as the connection with the homeland. Because man has two homelands, the collective place of inheritance, but also a homeland of the future, talent as an individual place of inheritance.
Therefore, there is nothing more natural than expressing your talent on your land. Many countries around the world may be looking for doctors, but every municipality in Kosovo needs doctors. The entire globe needs high technologies, but Kosovo also needs high technologies in information.
What is the point of action in this case, and what is required of the state-school connection? Increasing the quality of education. This is urgent. It is up to the school to put the young person in touch with their own talent. To discover it where it is not seen and to feed it where it has been discovered.
High school is very important in this regard. All state institutions, educational directorates and beyond, should take the quality of the teaching staff as their main task. Young people, for their part, should look for quality. Young people do not study for a degree, for a job or for survival. He or she is educated for a lifetime.
Don’t expect quality to be a supply, quality should also be a demand. To have quality you have to ask for it and not just wait for it to be offered from the other side.
Dear participants and deputies,
The intelligence of a state is seen in the ability to ensure the youthful lifespan of its society, so the passionate lifespan of its people. The intelligence of a state is seen in the respect of nature that it possesses. Not in vain that those who protect nature the most around the world are young people, and not in vain that those who bring about changes in political society are young people. Let’s prove to ourselves that we are at the right height. Let’s create the conditions for skill-production-creation. This is also required by high investment, this is also required by authentic local production. Practice and theory. The directive is clear. The outlook remains to be determined. I repeat it once more: The maturity of youth is to keep our passion alive, our maturity is to keep youth’s passion alive.
I know that there are young people who have taken the world in their eyes, but I also know that many young people are returning from the world to Kosovo and that all of them, whether in Kosovo or in exile, may sometimes be outside their homeland, but they will always be within the nation in our government policies and in our public engagements.
Thank you very much to all of you.
Last modified: August 15, 2022