Prishtina, 17 September 2024 – On the second day of the Kosovo Sustainable Development Week, the “The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans – A Joint Call to Action” Panel was held, featuring the participation of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Kosovo, Artane Rizvanolli.

In addition to Minister Rizvanolli, the panel included the Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning, and Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu, the German Minister of State for Europe and Climate, Anna Luhrmann, and Isabelle Wertheim from the European Commission, who joined online.

During her presentation, Minister Rizvanolli emphasized that Kosovo faces a challenging position regarding the energy transition and sustainable economic development, not only due to lagging behind more developed countries in terms of economic development and investment opportunities but also because of an outdated and inflexible electricity system and the lack of access to water resources that would make the system more flexible.

“Despite these challenges, we have not been deterred from holding great ambitions and working towards these significant objectives”, assessed Rizvanolli. She discussed the energy market coupling that Kosovo has achieved with Albania, the launch of the Albanian Power Exchange—ALPEX, and the cooperation that Kosovo will also have with Greece and North Macedonia within the integrated energy market.

Minister Rizvanolli also added that Kosovo has played a constructive a role in all regional energy cooperation initiatives.

Minister Aliu declared that we are the most unique country in the world, as we are not recognized by the United Nations and the primary challenge in the realm of climate change is the lack of access to international mechanisms and funds, however, as he noted, with the help of friendly nations, efforts have been made to lobby and dismantle these barriers so that Kosovo can gain access and not be left behind, especially since the main motto of the United Nations is “leaving no one behind”.

The German Minister of State for Europe and Climate, Anna Luhrmann, highlighted the importance of this conference and her presence, stating that everyone needs climate stability to strive to support the economy, agriculture, and nations in general, and she called for collaborative efforts to create the fundamental conditions for climate protection.

“Positioning Kosovo as a leader in the region in this field is excellent, and we look forward to seeing how Kosovo will continue to work on phasing out fossil fuels and coal”, concluded Luhrmann.

Minister Rizvanolli also participated in the second panel “The Journey Towards Energy Transition in the Western Balkans”, where she emphasized that Kosovo is entering a phase where all the planning and preparations made are beginning to yield results, and that we are confident that we are on the right path to achieve the targets we have set for ourselves for the year 2031.

Rizvanolli affirmed that our coal capacities will continue to bear the main burden for energy, albeit increasingly less so, however, she insisted on ensuring that these coal capacities become more secure in terms of supply reliability and cleaner by reducing emissions to the extent possible.

“On the other hand, we are investing in batteries that enable us to store energy during periods of higher generation, which we can utilize during peak hours. This type of investment will be highly beneficial for optimizing our existing capacities and for storing excess energy generated at night from coal that is not utilized, to then use it during daytime hours”, emphasized Minister Rizvanolli.