Prishtina, 05 May 2015 – Sustainable economic development is not possible without advancement of information technology and innovations, and this requires a greater and closer cooperation between public institutions and the private sector. This is the main conclusion of the Forum on “Economic development through information technology and innovations” organized for the first time in Prishtina under the patronage of the Ministry of Economic Development.

The opening of this forum was attended by the highest political representatives of Republic of Kosovo, including the Speaker of the Assembly Kadri Veseli, Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, and Minister Blerand Stavileci. The forum was followed by numerous representatives of businesses active in the sphere of ICT, innovations, education institutions and potential donors.

Prime Minister Mustafa said that ICT is a basic sector, when considering the vast youth which seeks to find its perspective in the sphere of information technology and has ambitions for innovations. He said that the government program envisages introduction of information technology in all schools in the country, in order for pupils to be able to apply IT in all stages of their education, which will help develop a culture of use of technology.

Further, Speaker Veseli said that economic development is impossible without the advancement of information technology and promised stronger support of the Assembly in the improvement of the legislative framework, with the aim of stimulating his important sector. He said that the time is right for the establishment of an Information Technology University, stating the Assembly’s readiness to donate its facilities in Gërmia Regional Park for this purpose.

Minister Stavileci underlined that the society in general and the Government in specific needs to think more on creative economy and digital economy, and needs to gear the education system to labor market demand, including ICT and innovations, which could be the greatest generators of employment in the future.

Stavileci said that IT is closely related to all sectors, including energy, infrastructure and business, therefore the basis for the country’s engagements should be focusing on three components: e-infrastructure, e-business and e-economy, concentrating Government initiatives on these concepts. The head of MED informed on the IT Strategy and Innovations Development Fund to be finalized shortly, as means to provide specific support for the information technology sector and electronic communications.

Further, representatives of IT and innovations businesses worked in five thematic panels on current developments in the sector, challenges faced by it and opportunities it provides for the country’s sustainable economic development, while requesting greater support by the Government.