Prishtinë, 30.09.2011 – Ministry of Economic Development once again reaffirms its readiness and welcomes initiatives to meet and discuss with civil society representatives on matters related to the MED scope and mandate.

Such readiness was expressed for some time now, however, unfortunately the meetings planned for 2 August and 2 September 2011 were postponed at the request and persistence of the civil society.

MED organized a meeting with civil society representatives on 29 September of this year to discuss the concerns presented by the civil society regarding the energy sphere, but the meeting was boycotted by some of civil society representatives.

We consider that this represents a lost opportunity to discuss at a professional level on all concerns regarding the energy projects.

As regards their remark that they were not included in the agenda, the Ministry, as the organizer of this event, had decided to provide all participants from the civil society with equal access to the round table, therefore, it decided that it would not be appropriate to include some organizations in the conference agenda and leave others aside.

At the same time, we note that the agenda of this round table dedicated 120 minutes (2 hours) to questions and discussions. A similar timeline was also provided for the presentations.

Such ratio between presentations and discussions provided sufficient time for all those wishing to take part and discuss on the related matters.

We think that this conference represented a good opportunity to debate with representatives of the World Bank, USAID and IFC on your remarks regarding alleged failure to respect internal World Bank and IFC standards. Noteworthy, such remarks were rejected by representatives of these institutions.

In regard to the issue of non-transparency, we wish to emphasize that all citizens had the opportunity to review all documents we have compiled to date, which were placed on public discussion; unfortunately, you have not used the opportunity to give your professional contribution in this aspect. Such was the case of the public discussion of the tariff methodology drafted by the Energy Regulator’s Office, which was open for discussion for over one month but which received not even one single comment.

Also, no visits were ever made to the ‘Data Room’ organized by the KEDS Privatization Project, although this facility is open for over a month now and there one can find all information relevant for this privatization project.

Also, your statements on our failure to respond to the requests for access to official documents which were submitted by GAP are untrue.

We have submitted you our written responses, informing you that most (finalized) of the document you had requested can be found in the respective web-pages of LPTAP and KEDS projects.

In line with the current legislation and international practices, and due to the sensitivity of the project, NGOs and institutions which are not part of the process can have access to draft-documents that are still not finalized.

MED continues to be open and available for cooperation with the civil society and remains ready to organize meetings to serve such purposes as often as required, in order to provide its professional arguments and elaborate on all issues of interest related to the country’s economic development.

Also, we express our readiness to be part of the discussions and tables organized by NGOs and other organizations and associations.

Respectfully yours,
Ministry of Economic Development