Hoxha: Norwegian government supports Kosovo in implementing SAA

Today, with a ceremony, in front of the media, the agreement on co-operation between the Ministry of European Integration and the Norwegian Government was signed, with what cases the support project for building the capacities of Kosovo institutions in implementing the SAA was signed. Norway's government, through this agreement, has delegated the implementation of this project to the Ministry of European Integration.

Norwegian Ambassador Per Strand Sjaadad stressed the importance of the integration process as well as the implementation of the SAA, this highly important process that makes Kosovo's approach to the EU. They offered further support for this process, firmly believing that Kosovo is within integration agendas and the values of this integration.

As the experience of others has shown, the European integration process is complex and requires substantial reforms, Minister Hoxha stressed. Human capacity, she stressed, plays a crucial role in it. To that end, we have identified a number of priority areas to build our capacities for implementing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement and advancing the accession process, Minister Hoxha noted.

The minister thanked the Norwegian Government and the MIE staff for their contribution to the development of this project.

Later, Minister Hoxha has mentioned the scope of the project 9 chapters of the acquis (EU legislation) for implementation of the SAA as Chapter 4, Free Movement of Capital, Chapter 9, Financial Services, Information Society and Media Chapter 15, Energy, Chapter 18, Statistics, Chapter 19, Social Policy and Employment, Chapter 27, Environment, Chapter 28, Consumer Protection and Public Health, and Chapter 32, Financial Control.

The project lasts three years, 2019, 2021, while the planned budget is about 1.4m euros.

The project's “goal is to support Kosovo's public administration in implementing the SAA and to prepare public institutions for EU membership in the above-mentioned acquis chapters”, the minister stressed.

The project's objectives are to strengthen institutional capacities in the fields of the acquis, as well as to strengthen institutional capacities for bringing legislation to the fields of the acquis.

Benefiters of this project are the Ministry of European Integration, the Ministry of Finance, the Kosovo Customs, the Kosovo Tax Administration, the Kosovo Central Bank, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Independent Commission for Media, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Regional Communications, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, the Energy Regulatory Office, the Kosova Srpska Agency for Protection for Nuclear Security, the Kosovo Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Labour and Social Health, both the National Health and the Audian Ministry.