One of the biggest challenges of Kosovo during the COVID-19 pandemic is Economic Recovery. With Economic Recovery there are always different new opportunities for more sustainable and healthier development in different industries. One of the strategies for Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is through clean energy. In this matter, the Kosovo Sustainable Development Week organized "Economic Recovery from Covid-19 through clean energy" online conference, to understand and to find new modalities on economic recovery through environmentally friendly energy production. The main speakers in the discussion were Blerim Kuci, Minister of Economy and Environment, Besnik Berisha, Managing Director of Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund, Nora Hasani, Managing Director of German Kosovar Business Association and moderated by Ariel Shaban – Chief Business Development Officer of KIVO.
In his opening remarks, Minister Kuci presented the Government’s Recovery Economic Plan and its environmental components and social components. Mr. Kuci explained some of the economic recovery measures “in the Economic Recovery Plan is a specific fund 26 million euros for agriculture that has to do with clean energy “
While Besnik Berisha stressed that “not always economic development can bring a clean environment and welfare to the society. If we can reach to synchronize economic development and a clean environment it will be an achievement, not only for policy-makers but also for the society in general”. Mr. Berisha described the challenges on access to finance for investments in clean energy production where he mentioned, “the main reason is due to lack of history of cash flow in this industry, the banks reasonably categorize the investments as high risk.” The solution for this challenge, the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund, presented a plan to the Ministry of Finance to incentivize the investments in the production of clean energy by guaranteeing the investments.
On the other hand, Nora Hasani presented the objectives of the German Kosovar Business Association adding “in our list of priorities we also have the green economy, we are always in line with examples that are set in Germany by implementing the best experiences from Germany. Kosovo Sustainable Development Week is inspired by European Sustainable Week. The activity is organized by a group of the like-minded organization. This year the activity is jointly organized by the Ministry of Economy and Environment, EUSR/EU Office in Kosovo, GIZ Kosovo on behalf of the German Government, Balkan Green Foundation (BGF), and the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP).
During this years activity through-out a range of events a series of topics will be discussed, Green deal, Transition to sound Resource Management and Circular Economy, National Energy and Climate Plan, Just transition/energy poverty/ heating/biomass/air pollution/deforestation, and Energy Transition - Regional Approach.
