Heidi: Serbia has halted grain exports, but we have nothing to stop it.

After stopping grain from Serbia, Minister Hajdari has shown Kosovo's friendly states with which they are in official communication, and there is progress in negotiations on grain supply.

“I have seen that Kosovo has not been dependent on Ukraine for import, but mainly has been from Serbia. We have contacted other countries, starting with Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Turkey, France and the US. Fortunately, we have positive answers from most of these countries, even though they have barriers to countries that have banned exports. But, with the minister- ministerial agreement, we are in good progress when we happen to have a crisis that Kosovo may have in the future, we can unblock this through agreement. We have to prepare, even though we've added the state reserve for an additional 10 million euros, we need to add additional reszevars, because, you don't know, you know, you know, the start, but not the end. Starting with the request we sent to the American Embassy and others to calculate the future in summer, autumn, because you don't know any new situations, and put us on the list. And we have received positive answers that Kosovo is on the list of other countries' demands as well, which Kosovo is also on the list to be one of the future buyers if there is a need. Yet, it is still not enough to be active at all times and to be requested by other countries”, Hajdari stressed.

Responding to MP Armendi Muja, that Kosovo is either a tax barrier with the US, Minister Hajdari tells him that Kosovo has no barrier against the US, except as she pointed out perhaps has the US towards our country.

“We don't, maybe we have barriers to export to Kosovo, which we have to remove, but we don't have barriers to export to America”, she stressed.

Thus, MP Armend Muja has proposed that the supply line be guided by Western states and the United States, not by him from the east.

Better buy wheat from that. The United States, can we think, this year even for geopolitical reasons and national security, to reorient the supply of wheat. I think it's a good time, and our buyer chain is finally connected to the West, we don't have anything to do with birth”, he stressed.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Commission for Economy, Ferat Shala, stressed that they have waited on this government to take measures even reciprocity against Serbia for the ban on wheat it has made to Kosovo.

According to him, no kilograms of wheat allows Serbia to export to Kosovo, and so he said the supply line with essential food goods has been blocked.

“I have not seen any action and no government communication, but what is the government's position in relation to the impasse Serbia has made for the wheat and other products that we once imported wheat, and today we are blocked. Is there any reaction, an anti-mass, an anti-action or some kind of reciprocity that we've been waiting for after such a vulgar and unnecessary bias in this” situation, Shala said.

Minister Hajdari, showing that Kosovo currently does not lack wheat, said Kosovo does not have a way of countering Serbia for its strategic product, as according to her, there is no goods to stop this neighbouring state.

I didn't understand by any manufacturer or by the retail and majority chains, which they lack of grain supply. They're ok and they don't have any problems with supply, because we've had other countries, not just Serbia and Turkey... It's not decision-making as we think of revenge or revenge, but always based on evidence... When we get requests from the food industry, we need to react and we always have room to respond based on law, but when we start investigations it's not good to take action within 60 days... But it's true that there's been some of the states that have stopped exporting for wheat, because it's a crisis for them, and we're reconsidering, but now what we have to stop as exports. We may have very few products to export”, he stressed.

During the report to the Economic Commission, Minister Hajdari has said that during 2021, the number of consumer complaints reached 2,000 or 300 percent more than in 2020.

Some 2 thousand complaints have been addressed about the rights of consumers on the market, many of which have to do with quality and quality of products and services. So the number of consumer complaints increased by 300 percent in 2021”, she said.

Meanwhile, he said that over the past year, the level of exports of Kosovo goods has increased by 62 per cent.

Hajdari added that during 2021, foreign investments have been nearly 500m euros.

It has announced members of the Commission for the bills adopted by the Parliament and bills that are in the process of approval.

Hajdari has also said about 80 per cent of the SAA measures have been finalised by this ministry over the past year.