Minister of Trade and Industry, Hykmete Bajrami, is attending the high-level conference “Promotion of Investments for Competitiveness in the South-Eastern Europe”, which is being held in Paris, organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
At the session of discussions on attracting foreign direct investment and enhancing competitiveness in South Eastern Europe, Minister Bajrami spoke about the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo on undertaken structural reforms that have the primary goal of improving the business environment and economic growth in our country. She stressed that the Republic of Kosovo has done serious work in terms of economic reforms, and as a result of this engagement, it has risen on the international ranking for doing business. She mentioned Kosovo's ranking in the latest World Bank report and said that Kosovo is already on the 60's place, recalling that no later than in 2012 it was on the 117th place in this index. Also, Minister Bajrami continued that Kosovo has marked significant growth also in the "Economic Freedom Index" measured by the "Heritage Foundation", where from position 84 in which we were in 2015 we were raised to 46th position , she said.
Mrs. Bajrami added that the Government of Kosovo the improvement of the environment of doing business considers as a continuous work, involving all the institutions of the country and the business community. She voiced the conviction that successful economic reforms are being accompanied by an increase in economic activity and will ensure the growth of foreign investments and overall growth of the economy of the Republic of Kosovo. Minister Bajrami also mentioned the new fiscal package 2.0, which will be approved soon by the Government of Kosovo, adding that this reform will bring a very significant stimulus to the production activity in our country, making Kosovo and its producers competitive with producers from the region and beyond. Bajrami said that Kosovo has built a modern legal framework in line with EU legislation that will help our country to successfully integrate into the European Union market through the full implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. She also stopped at the Law on Strategic Investment, which, she stressed, is an important and practical mechanism through which many large international companies will realize their investments in large projects without having to deal with the procedures and prolonged bureaucracy.
At the session of discussions on economic zones as an opportunity to increase foreign direct investment, Minister Bajrami said that the Ministry of Trade, in cooperation with the Municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo, is working on the construction of many economic zones in Kosovo. She mentioned the Business Park in Drenas as well as the Technological Park in Shtime, as completed projects in which many foreign and domestic companies are operating, mainly in the production sector. Bajrami said that MTI is working with international partner organizations to increase the financing level for the construction of new industrial zones in Kosovo municipalities as we have a lot of interest from different firms from the country and abroad. So far, eight economic zones have been licensed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, while others are expected to be licensed and financially supported by MTI.
During her visit to Paris, Minister Bajrami is holding bilateral meetings with delegations of different states and various international organizations, informing them about the economic developments in our country and the possibilities offered by the Republic of Kosovo for foreign investors.
