Why is not good news for Kosovo, according to Lulzim Rafuna, adding NATO troops to the north

Ruling party officials are constantly distributing news of the world's news of how Serb hooligans in the north attacked KFORT and Kosovo police forces there.

But is that good news or bad news for the country's economy? On the other hand, how it affects Kosovo's image, the additional arrival of NATO forces, following riots in the north.

For these developments, Periscopi has talked to Kosovo Economic Ode Chairman Lulzim Rafuna.

Mr. Rafuna has said that reflecting the events of the north in the world media is the worst image Kosovo could ever have been in the business plan.

Even the past has shown us how many times there has been unrest, or photographs where violence appears in Kosovo in foreign media, they have never motivated investors who investors come to Kosovo. It's been a long time for an investor to come here. Obviously they don't have their own money, and when they want to invest somewhere, they have to be very safe. Political security, judicial security, economic security, rule of law are top priority for foreign investors to come to Kosovo. Therefore, photos of attacks on KFOR soldiers, such as the municipality, are not images helping an investor come to Kosovo”, Rafuna told Periscope.

NATO officials have expressed much concern over the situation in the northern part of Kosovo. For this, NATO has made a decision to launch additional troops to Kosovo. In terms of security, this news may be good, but according to Kosovo business representative, this news is extremely bad.

“Lajm for bringing additional forces to Kosovo is not good news for foreign investors. With the fact that the additional force is coming is uncertainty and unstable, meaning that in Kosovo there may be difficulties”, Rafuna has added.

But the echo of world media unrest can also be repaired. Rafuna says it takes time and commitments from all sides of the interest in Kosovo for this.

We now need world media to cover more good stories, how business is stable in Kosovo, how business works, what are opportunities to invest in Kosovo. We all have to engage, not just the private sector in this case, but also the Oday Economics. We must engage all the best lobbyists we have in our embassies. So it takes a marketing aggression, in the positive sense that the integration for the state of Kosovo is changed that we are a stable state and not the opposite”, he added.

Within the past 15 years, the value of foreign direct investments in Kosovo amounts to over 4.5 billion euros. The real estate sector represents the sector with the highest share in the foreign direct investment facility. Even Albanian diaspora investments entered foreign investments, and they are oriented right into real estate and not production, the sector that would generate jobs.

There are investments in real estate because of our diaspora. According to the statistics, there are about 600m euros of foreign investment in Kosovo. It is painful that 90 percent of diaspora money has gone to impartiality, since we also call it foreign investments while only 14 million have gone into production. We're saying this is very painful. For this reason, institutions with urgency need to draft strategies to reoritrate our countrymen' investments in products, not in real estate”, the OEK chairman has said further.

Depending on the riots in northern Kosovo, the business huger cannot mention any name of any serious business that has come in the first quarter of this year.

I'm not at all this year. I'd be happy to see an investor inside the known. So the best mirror that we're a stable state is the arrival of a known” inside, has ended Rafuna. /Periscopi/