Minister Hykmete Bajrami participated in the IV International Conference on “Activating Economic Growth Resource”, organized by the Riinvest Institute.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Hykmete Bajrami initially made a retrospective of Kosovo's economic developments since the 1960s and so far, where should be emphasized the 1990s when the economy of Kosovo had an economic coma and that this has been the most negative damage Serbia could have done to Kosovo, closing down the entire economy sector. Meanwhile, according to minister Bajrami, in 2000 begins a new profile of industry, which is not followed by good economic and fiscal policies.
She added, "In spite of this, upon receiving the mandate we have worked differently, we have set standards and we have tried to put in place fiscal policy constraints for producers and traders and that it has immediately made its results" said Bajrami.
While for the business environment, Minister Bajrami emphasized that improving the business environment is not only a responsibility of a ministry, but it is the responsibility of everyone, both at central, local level, as well as other regulatory institutions. "We have worked with the help of donors and many credible institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, USAID, other donors and the EU Office, coordinating these reforms and that only in this way we have achieved many results" , stressed Minister Bajrami.
She further mentioned the achievements of the ministry she leads, adding that the World Bank has set up Kosovo throughout this period for 26 positions, while the Heritage Foundation in the Economic Freedom Index has ranked Kosovo for 34 positions higher than the previous year , as well as the Chamber of Commerce's report has highlighted positive developments in doing business. We have worked hard to eliminate bureaucracy, unifying the number of businesses, from the four different business numbers we have unified in a single number that can be taken at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which identifies businesses in all institutions of the Republic Of Kosovo. We have also significantly improved the services in the field of trademark registration, where during this mandate were treated 28 thousand cases in the Industrial Property Agency, which have been collected since 2008. In the framework of KIESA and with the help of donors we are implementing the product certification project, where through this project, supported by EBRD, we are working to ensure that our enterprises certify their products according to quality standards. We expect from the World Bank to approve a 15 million project for quality infrastructure and inspection reform, where we have foreseen that through inspection reform the number of inspection bodies from 38 that are currently will be reduced in 14 bodies.
Further, Mrs. Bajrami also spoke about the functioning of the Credit Guarantee Fund, which made a difference regarding access to finance, where MTI contributed with three million euros to the Fund, while the majority came from donors, as well as the government's contribution with another 3 million in the next three years, where 200 loans are issued so far under the umbrella of the Fund.
Among other things, the minister also announced positive trade trends with services, which are growing, with 1 billion and 38 million euro export services in 2016, while imports are less than 500 million euros.