Pristina, 7 April 2016
Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Arban Abrashi, signed a cooperation agreement with the Minister of Welfare of the Republic of Latvia, Janis Reirs.
The agreement aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields of social policy, the sharing of best practices and best experiences in the field of employment, pensions, and social services and for cooperation between labour inspectorates.
Minister Arban Abrashi appreciated the importance of this visit of Minister Reirs to Kosovo and signing the agreement.
“Both countries face similar challenges in terms of reforms in employment, pension reform and other reforms, including social areas which are in order to improve the lives of citizens,” said Minister Abrashi.
Therefore, as stated by Abrashi, during this visit started the exchange of information at expert level, departments, in order to take the best practices of countries that have been integrated into the European Union before Kosovo.
“In this way we will be able to find shorter routes to the European Union in order to improve the welfare of our citizens,” said Minister Abrashi, adding that Kosovo will benefit from the good experiences of Latvia, which can take in employment, pensions and social welfare fields.
He further said that the minister Reirs committed that Latvia will help Kosovo’s membership in various organizations by lobbying to the states that have not recognized Kosovo.
“Unfortunately we do not take part in the many works of United Nations organizations or other European countries, but with friends like we have today, these roads or these doors we hope will open as soon as possible,” said Minister Abrashi.
Minister of Welfare of the Republic of Latvia, Janis Reirs was very pleased with the visit in Kosovo, stressing that from this cooperation expects strengthening bilateral cooperation in various policy areas.
“With regard to employment and social policies, we have very good cooperation with other countries, especially in the sharing of best practices and best experiences. We will build cooperation between labor inspectorates of our countries, “said Minister Reirs, stating that earlier the State Labour Inspectorate of Latvia, in cooperation with Kosovo and Belgium, has implemented a twinning project in Kosovo, to strengthen Kosovo’s labour inspectorate in terms of organizational and information system and capacity building.
Stressing very good experiences in Latvia in terms of reforming the employment and social fields, the minister Reirs said that this experience is considered good practice at the level of the European Union, highlighting the active measures of the labour market provided by state agencies of employment in cooperation with municipalities and experiences in the area of pension reforms.
“The Memorandum of Understanding signed today with Minister Abrashi creates good basis for strengthening of cooperation between the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Kosovo and the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia. With such good purpose, we will translate this into concrete activities aiming at enhancing the best performance in terms of employment and social protection, “said Minister Reirs.
