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The Government plans to undertake measures until 2014 which will rank Kosovo within the 40 best countries for doing business.
In order to reach this goal, the Government of Kosovo has planned some measures which will be undertaken to reform business. The most important are the liberalisation of the economy, the simplification of the administrative and bureaucratic procedures, the abolishment of half of the permits and licenses, the improvement of the legal framework and the creation of a database for legal acts in order to provide transparency and protect investors, the further digitalization of the municipal services, the improvement of inspection capacities and the increased voluntary formalisation of the economic activities.
In a meeting where many domestic and foreign representatives were present, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said that the Government is aiming to improve the business environment through this plan.
“This platform, which is a reflection of the Program of the Government of Republic of Kosovo, is focused on the development of the private sector as the engine of economic development, for a society with a higher standard of living and a European Kosovo,” said Thaci in his speech. During the period 2011-2014, the vision of economic development, according to him, foresees elementary goals such as economic growth from 7% to 8% and the reduction of unemployment from 8% to 10% which means around 30,000 new jobs for the next three years.
In the meeting, the minister of Trade and Industry, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, who has undertaken the task of leading these reforms, said that her goal is to attract quality investments in Kosovo in order create productive employment. She emphasized 12 laws which have entered the modification phase, three of which have been read on Thursday in the Parliament. Further legislation reforms were also mentioned as well as the need to trim the administrative burdens among other measures.
“These include the revision of the property-tax rates, the simplification of business registration, the unification of data between the Customs, the Tax Administration of Kosovo, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the abolishment of other administrative burdens such as the elimination of work permits which is an unnecessary obstacle for business and which was mentioned in the report of World Bank,” said Kusari-Lila.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry, according to her, is finalising the project for the business registration offices in all the municipalities of Kosovo. “In addition, through these reforms, businesses will be able to register within 3 days and not 23 days as it is currently,” she added.
The expert of World Bank in doing business, Dahlia Khalife, presented to the audience the indicators of doing business and the recommendations for the necessary economic changes in Kosovo. The American ambassador, Christopher Dell, said this plan is bound to succeed. “The young population is Kosovo’s resource. I hope that with the work and support of everybody Kosovo will be within the top 40 countries in doing business in three years,” said Dell.
The creation of a task-force in order to carry out the “Doing Business” reform is also planned. This reform will be presented to the Parliament f Kosovo for ratification.
ECIKS / Koha