USAID chief: rule of law, condition for Kosovo economic development

In an interview for Voice of America Magno said rule of law is one of the essential factors for promoting investments in the country.

Voice of America: It's already been 20 years since WAID is located in Kosovo. What are some of your mission's main achievements in Kosovo during this time?

Lisa Magno: Let me start the answer by saying that all is about partnership, the success we have here is the direct result of partnership between the people of America and those of Kosovo. My measure of success or achievement would be institutions that continue to be ready, stable and capable and that continue to do their job according to the mandate they have been given over the years, relations that continue even when U.AID is no longer there. So let me take a few examples, the first one would say is Kosovo's fund for credit guarantees, access is always problematic specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises and through this fund that our investment was very modest and includes contributions to our donor partners as well, we've been able to provide loans worth $140 million. A second example many of your viewers have probably already heard of are raspberries.

With USAID's investment, raspberries have already become a massive export industry for Kosovo. Before we started there were only ten acres devoted to the raspberries, that's multiplied because now there are 1,300 hectares of raisins and we have three thousand farmers taking advantage of them. I still have in mind my trip to the city of Podujevo where we catch many farmers who were once unemployed, now plant raisins and form a kind of cover where they are able to make decisions for themselves, earn income and help the welfare of their families, especially their children.

The last example I would give is also in the field of agriculture and it has to do with herbs and spices, before we started investments in this field there were only four or five collection points, and this has now multiplied to about 50 cluster points and at least 12 thousand farmers are benefiting from planting, drying and exporting these plants. Finally I would say that especially in this sector we have seen Kosovo Albanians and Serbian farmers in Kosovo working very closely and jointly because when it's good business it all makes sense, regardless of which part it belongs to in the geographical sense or what your ethnicity is. So these are some of the achievements I would say we are mostly proud of in Kosovo.

Voice of America: What is now the work of USAID in Kosovo?

Lisa Magno: As Ambassador Philip Costnet has stated, the priorities of our mission in Kosovo are peace, justice and prosperity, and I have to underline here that one without another is almost impossible. Many people talk about work, unemployment and opportunities to earn income here in Kosovo. But that is not possible if there is no respect for rule of law. Law rule is extremely important for local and foreign investors to leave their money in Kosovo because they need assurances that contracts will be based on law, terms of contracts will be respected.

That's why we have two projects that we've recently started that are fulfilling each other. One is economic governance that ensures that the business environment is suitable for investment and economic opportunities in Kosovo, and ensures that opportunities for corruption are negligible. While the rest of this is launching a commercial justice programme because it requires specialised expertise for courts and judges dealing with specific cases involving their businesses and contracts.

Another area of importance in which we have begun investing is youth, while our previous programmes included youth, what we want to do is deliberately aim at youth. I think it's very clear that Kosovo is a country of very new populations, potential and talent can be observed here, so what we need is creating opportunities for young people not only to be active as citizens but to be active in the economy.

Voice of America: Most of Kosovo's budget goes to fees and social schemes, with limited investments and large-scale infrastructure. Based on your experience, what offers Kosovo development such an approach and do you think it should be changed?

Lisa Magno: Let me answer that question by showing you how we see development and how we can help Kosovo move forward in terms of development. The two main things we see, and that applies globally to our mission, are skill and commitment. The ability, or as I said before, potential and talent are present here in Kosovo and for me commitment with Kosovo's young is particularly inspiring, so for us, USAID, and our donor colleagues, it is a great deal of work in building skills that has been done to ensure that institutions are capable of doing the jobs that are expected to do.

As far as the labour market is concerned, we offer development of the workforce, most importantly we help in mediating among those who need employees, such as companies, private businesses, and on the other hand people who are capable of providing the services required. As for the last point I would mention, the necessary legislative or legal basis is required, and during the 11 years of Kosovo's independence I think the legal basis for rule of law, the legal basis for a number of critical issues, as well as implementation of rules and procedures, has been carried out successfully.

While the second factor that in most cases is the most difficult factor is commitment, and with that we imply institutions that consistently implement the law, they consistently respect rule of law and follow legal ways. This leads to meritocracy guaranteeing that the right people -- those who are qualified earn jobs, expanding opportunities in the private sector so that not all jobs are concentrated in the public sector, and finally especially for young people in Kosovo who are full of energy and potential.

It's also the commitment of youth and citizens, as we say in the United States and every “we deserve the government that we have” so if people don't commit and if the government doesn't listen to their people, it doesn't engage their voters, it's not a formula for success. Therefore, we support a number of civil society organisations and expect to support even more communities based especially outside Pristina.

Voice of America: How much have USAID investments affected Kosovo's economic development, and what is the total amount invested so far?

Lisa Magno: I'm going to mention the official figure we've registered and that's $900 million since U.S.AID is located in Kosovo, but I think this is not the most important part because we always say the value of our assistance is as good as the partnership and commitment that we receive from our associates whether in government, civil society or local communities.

Perhaps to illustrate the economic impact of U's help USI will only talk about the last two years where our special support in the private sector has created over six thousand jobs, employment is a big problem here, so it's important that we create or help create the environment and the circumstances that produce employment, and create these jobs that are very productive and that offer further employment in the future.

So for these jobs that have been created in the last two years, I am also proud to mention that about 40 percent of them are for women and 41 percent for youth. As you may know, we also have a property rights programme where we've made sure that people know about women's rights to access property because often to be able to start a business or apply for loans, property ownership is an important factor. I mentioned raspberries earlier, and of these six thousand jobs, about three thousand and 700 are in the field of agriculture.

We helped generate 109m euros in sales and more than half of that amount is in exports. So much of what we do is to help farmers know more about new technological discoveries, how to export, but what's also important is how to achieve international standards. So we help the farmers with the certificates they need, and I'm happy to say that when the products go out there they write “E THROUGHOUT COSOVE”, this is the inscription they have on their products.

Voice of America: What are plans for the future, areas where you will work, or activities on which you will focus?

Lisa Magno: I think we are open to work in each sector, in the future our partnership will have to continue to develop and in two things we will focus mainly. The first will be accountability, I think in recent years we have done enough to ensure that there is a system, some procedures, there is transparency in governance. We've done a lot of work on electronic procurement, now all government contracts have to be published online so civil society and citizens can see them. But in the next five years until we develop our new strategy for the country, we will underline the account that implies continued law enforcement, meritocracy and the removal of opportunities for corruption.

Also for the government and citizens to devote themselves to implementing the positive political reforms that have been set up. The second will be providing opportunities and here I refer not only to economic opportunities but to opportunities to engage as Kosovo citizens. The group of young people we have in Kosovo today is the largest that Kosovo has probably had in 11 years of independence, we are seeing young people graduate from universities, demanding their first job, creating families for the first time and also voting for the first time.

We want to make sure that the talent and potential that are here, develop and stay here so that they can contribute to Kosovo's growth and future. My final point in your question would be that as long as our partnership develops, we would eventually want to see Kosovo, both the government and citizens in leadership. We are very happy to be behind the stage supporting Kosovo, but we want to see solutions created in partnership with our partners in Kosovo, as well as interventions that are executed and implemented together with Kosovo, so it doesn't matter whether we are here or what our budget is, because Kosovo is leading the way for its citizens.