On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, GERMIN organized the fourth lecture with the Kosovo Diaspora in the United Kingdom. This meeting is part of a series of activities within the Greenback 2.0 project, by the World Bank in cooperation with the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo and funded by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs.
The lecture focused on remittances and their role as guides for the socio-economic development of Kosovo. The United Kingdom has a significant number of citizens from Kosovo and is one of the main sources of remittances for Kosovo.
The meeting was moderated by Mrs. Edlira Dashi, who introduced the panelists of the meeting who were mainly from the field of economics and economic journalism. As well as informing the audience more about the topic of discussion.
The panelist of this meeting, Mr. Safet Gërxhaliu, expert in the field of economy, emphasized that the topic of remittances and specifically the diaspora are an indisputable part of the country’s development. Also Mr. Gërxhaliu stressed that most citizens are seeing the diaspora as a financial value, but the importance of the diaspora is beyond that, based on their expertise, network and experiences that are much needed for the mother country. In addition to the aspect of the importance of the diaspora and remittances, the focus of Mr. Gërxhaliu was in 3 aspects of the entry of remittances in Kosovo, whether through money transfer agencies, or through the direct arrival of the diaspora and also sending money in an informal way, where he stressed that these goods from the diaspora are going to consumption and no steps have yet been taken towards proper channeling of remittances in order to create premises towards the development of the country.
The next panelist, Mr. Emanuel Bajra, an expert on financial markets, focused on the aspect that the diaspora is more than remittances, due to their education and the creation of networks that may be very necessary for the country. In addition to the social and cultural aspect that the diaspora has, it is very important for the Government of Kosovo to start a different treatment for the diaspora, in terms of providing investment opportunities, providing security and infrastructure. Another important part that Mr. Bajra stressed the creation of a national bank account of Kosovo where it has branches in major European countries and beyond, in order to be used for payments and transactions, a way that would serve the development of the country and at the same time create more accurate statistics.
Mr. Agimi started with a retrospective of the diaspora, and their sacrifice over the decades, showing their strong connection to the motherland. Despite the repressions, various problems have never detached the desire to help their mother country. The other part that is changing are the thoughts of the new generations, where most of them do not have the feeling that we have, these generations are the ones who think more about themselves and personal development, which is very important and not wrong. The lack of concrete plans are what are affecting the brain drain from Kosovo, which will have consequences for the country, where the most qualified people are fleeing their country, so the Kosovo government should focus on the possibility of creating conditions and become a potential place even for students studying abroad, in order to return and serve the country.
During the meeting, the audience was interested and were involved by expressing their experiences in terms of deliveries, as well as the challenges they have in this regard, both in legal terms and in practice. One of the members was Mr. Alban Nevzati, who spoke about his work and the creation of a delivery agency, which will enter the market from mid-December, initially with the state of Switzerland and continuing towards expansion with other European countries and beyond.
In addition to Mr. Nevzati, Mr. was also interested in contributing. Florent Antoni, who shared his experience in terms of technology showing some of the key steps to be followed to achieve efficiency in sending remittances, so the administrative aspect should be adjusted, and support for relevant institutions should be more emphasized.
During the meeting there were various questions and discussions which showed a lot about the interest of the diaspora to create relief on remittances and other collaborations for an investment opportunity.
At the end of the meeting Mrs. Dashi concluded with a brief explanation of remittances. She told more about the importance of remittances, as well as some of the statistics from the World Bank, which show that the Kosovo diaspora is very strong in terms of remittances which affect the economic stability of Kosovo.