Minister of Trade and Industry, Endrit Shala, opened the conference “EU promotes entrepreneurship and SMEs: COSME Programme”, aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses in Kosovo.
Minister Shala emphasized that the European Commission provides on-going assistance in terms of economic, institutional development and assists small and medium-sized businesses.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the European Commission for the on-going support to the institutions of the Government of Kosovo whether in terms of institutional development, legal framework development, various regulatory reforms or in terms of the support they provide to stimulate the development of the private sector in Kosovo, in particular the development of entrepreneurship through various projects. As an example of this we have the COSME Programme that aims at developing small and medium-sized enterprises”, stated Minister Shala.
The Minister informed the participants that the Programme in question is a good opportunity to promote entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“I assure you, in the capacity of the Minister of Trade and Industry, that our priority is to develop the economic capacities in Kosovo and you have the full support from us in order to give to the businesses the opportunity to realize their full potential within the local economy, as well as in the international economy. KIESA – as the Kosovo Investment and Enterprise Support Agency, has the COSME Programme within its activities, for which programme pays the annual financial liabilities internationally and notifies the business community of the benefitting opportunities from the COSME Programme”, stated Shala.
He added that MTI is constantly working to make Kosovo an ideal place for doing business.
“We, at MTI, are constantly working to make Kosovo an ideal place for doing business. At the same time, the development of local manufacturing potential remains our focus, always ensuring that we have fair and equal market competition. Within the mandate of the Kosovo Investment and Enterprise Support Agency, we offer support programmes for entrepreneurs in Kosovo, starting with subsidizing manufacturing machinery, providing product certification schemes, consulting schemes, business cooperation, and finding foreign markets etc. At the same time, it is worth mentioning the role of the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund, which has guaranteed over 1 thousand loans in the amount of close to EUR 52 million, in the first half of this year, for small and medium-sized enterprises. These loans would not be given without the guarantee of the Kosovo Fund", stated Minister Shala.
According to him, COSME Programme is also a bigger opportunity to enable young entrepreneurs and enterprises to develop further.
“Let's use funds of COSME and similar ones to further intensify the access to international and regional markets”, said Minister Shala.
