Apostolova: Everything went as we wanted with our funds in Kosovo

At the summit of the High-level Forum for Co-ordination of Foreign Donations, attended by ambassadors and donors, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj stressed that all of Kosovo's people -- all communities, ethnic communities living in Kosovo -- thank donors over the past 20 years -- for their generosity, for their taxpayers and institutions.

Haradinaj said that thanks to this assistance, Kosovo today is obviously the most living country -- a country that has emerged from the war -- there is progress in internal, social, administrative and governing reforms, there is more developed civil society and there is a social level that aspires to meet the family of Euro-Atlantic peoples.

Prime Minister Haradinaj also had a message for donors.

Please don't be disappointed with any potential concessions, any mistakes, because we learn from our mistakes in Kosovo. So don't be disappointed and fade Kosovo's support. You haven't created parasites on us with your help, but you've made us aware, you've driven us to progress and development. There are many subjects that were once taboo or difficult today are real to us. We truly deserve that today he was proud of a mutual co-operation of the people and Kosovo institutions”, Haradinaj said.

Prime Minister Haradinaj in this Forum, among other things, said he would propose to the Government a donation for the renovation of the Notre Dame Cathedral, in recognition of the assistance Kosovo has been given ongoing.

“We are very sorry we have seen the cathedral on fire, it is a loss of values for our continent”, Haradinaj said.

European Integrations Minister Gift Hoxha said foreign donations have been contributing to the state the construction and consolidation of Kosovo in all possible dimensions.

Minister Hoxha reported that during this year significant improvement in internal planning and improvement in the implementation of projects is aimed.

She said that they have already taken steps to improve the process of co-ordinating external donations through the establishment of the monitoring and reporting system, but according to her, the main challenge remains the level of implementation of projects under the planned carbon deadlines set by the Government of Kosovo.

“As the newest and most pro-European state in Europe, Kosovo will continue with implementation and an increased dynamism of implementing the SAA, to pave the way for obtaining EU membership candidate status, as the only priority goal we have before us, and without the help of external donors, Kosovo would not be here today. Donors continue to be integral parts of Kosovo's overall institutional development, and the results are certainly impressive”, Hoxha said.

EU representative for Kosovo Natalia Apostolova said EU donations, which are about 100m euros a year, are destined for rule of law, for economy, for education, for agriculture and energy, but according to her, not everything is going to implement projects as the European Union has wanted.

I'm witnessing the impact of our assistance and has really helped and improved the lives of people and all communities in Kosovo. For example, as good examples come to the fore, not everything is going our way. From this forum, it is an opportunity to see what has been accomplished in the past years, but primarily needs to see what has not been achieved or what might have been better for learning from them. It is important that we do this together in order to present our positive effect of our assistance”, Apostolova stressed.

The EU continues to be the main donor, followed by Germany, the US, Switzerland and so, while the main sector that has benefited from donors is economic development, employment and prosperity, followed by rule of law as well as municipalities.