Kosovo Accords Patriatism Albania

At the four joint meetings of governments of the two countries -- Kosovo and Albania -- held over the years -- agreements have been signed aimed at joint strategic governance with a Euro-Atlantic vision.

The meeting between Kosovo and Albania was held in 2014, where co-operation and partnership agreements between the two governments were signed, agreements in the areas of transport and infrastructure, as well as deepening co-operation in the area of European integration.

Analyst Naim Gashi says that so far the two governments' meetings and agreements signed by Kosovo-Albanian agreements speak more of a folk patriotism.

According to him, official statistics of trade exchanges between Kosovo and Albania best speak, which do not exceed trade volume of over 150m euros a year until trade exchanges alone are about 350m euros.

The “Agreements signed between Kosovo and Albania are only agreements on paper, while in practice we are not looking at the two countries' approach, as in the field of economy, education, technology and other fields”.

“Unfortunately, we have media meetings between governments of both countries, but in practical terms, citizens of one and another when they go to Albania and vice versa, they still need to recognise their diplomas, they need to recognise certificates of origin of goods, there is no single university system, nor single diplomas, nor certificates of single business, certificates of origin of goods, while expectations at customs points are”, Gashi says.

Meanwhile, at one of the government meetings of both Kosovo countries, Albania was also signed an intergovernmental co-operation protocol, which represents the full institutional framework of relations between these states in all areas, ranging from economy to education.

In the education field, some of the signed agreements have to do with the development and professional progress of teachers in pre-university education, as well as co-operation in the field of higher education and scientific research between the two states.

Regarding agreements in the field of education, field expert Halim Hyseni tells Radio Free Europe that signed agreements are without concrete and totally insignificant effects.

“The signing of agreements between Kosovo and Albania in the field of education must be made, but the way it is being done is not presenting real context co-operation, but is more formalised. The first issue is that both education systems -- the one in Albania and Kosovo -- are in serious crisis. I think a new approach is needed in co-operation in the field of education between Kosovo and Albania“, Hyseni estimates.

For failing to comply with one of the agreements, which was considered to bring Kosovo and Albania boosting economic development, authorities in Kosovo have also confirmed.

The agreement on boosting and facilitating trade -- now signed and many years between Kosovo and Albania -- has found no full implementation has revealed Sytrim Dervisolli, head of the Department for Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

She has told Radio Free Europe that there is room for greater strengthening of trade reports between Kosovo and Albania.

The last “years have been noted in a further volume of the settlement of barriers on the part of Albania against Kosovo. The most pronounced commercial burdens are in agricultural products. We have a lot of cases where the quality analysis report, released by Kosovo relevant labs, is not recognised by the authorities of Albania”.

“also has referenced price applications to Kosovo agricultural products, mostly with the potato case. Finally, we had the case of eggs, where an amount of eggs imported from Albania's market entered Kosovo, causing consequences on our” market, says Dravishall.

Analyst Naim Gashi calls all these economic barriers that businesses face meaningless.

The “is paradoxical that Albania still opposes certificates of origin of goods or other certificates coming from Kosovo”, Gashi says.

Production businesses in Kosovo, meanwhile, were declared more easily to export goods and services to European Union countries than to Albania.

The executive director of the American Chamber of Economics in Kosovo, Arian Zeka, in a pronomation for Radio Free Europe, says businesses in Kosovo, consistently complain that it is impossible to penetrate Albania's market.

We continue to have complaints on the part of companies, in terms of specific barriers at certain times, whether for juice producers or other products. Businesses from Kosovo, even if they decide to invest in Albania's market, survival there is almost impossible in a longer period. Such businesses are from the service sector, information technology. All these businesses after the first or second year of operation have been unable to continue on the Albanian market”, Zeka says.

However, the heads of governments of both countries -- Kosovo and Albania -- at the last meeting, held earlier this week, had stressed that the consolidated tradition of gathering the two governments is not only positive but also productive.

The results were said to be concrete, visible, and hopeful since the launch of joint meetings between the two governments.