Minister of Trade and Industry pledges to push the demands of businesses forward

Prishtina, 28 July 2020 – The American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo organized a virtual conference with the Minister of Trade and Industry Vesel Krasniqi, during which along with representatives of member businesses of the chamber the future of Kosovo’s economy post COVID-19, as well as Government plans for support to the private sector were discussed.

AmCham Executive Director, Arian Zeka, stressed the need to approve the budget and the draft law on economic recovery, the lack of which continues to cause the stagnation of recovery. Zeka also pointed out the importance of strategic investors and foreign investments which are vital to ensure the economic development of the country, while recommending the Minister to prioritize reviewing the applications of strategic investors.

Minister Vesel Krasniqi stated that despite the desire to allow economic activities operate, as a result of the increase in number of COVID-19 infections, the situation has worsened and taking the necessary measures has been inevitable. He stressed that to ensure better implementation of the measures, administrative instructions have been created in accordance with the recommendations of health institutions and groups for inspecting activities and implementation of protective measures within the gastronomy sector have been established.

Minister Krasniqi further added that the budget review and finalization of the draft law on economic recovery of Kosovo are in the final stages of processing in the Assembly, while emphasizing that after the approval of these draft laws within a short time the way to  implementing the Emergency Fiscal Package and that for economic recovery will be paved.

The Minister also spoke on the issue of strategic investments, where he said that the approval of the status of strategic investor has been dragged due to institutional vacuums, and the fact that so far only two companies enjoy this status is painful, because in this way potential investors can consider neighboring countries instead of Kosovo at a time when every investment is necessary.