Prishtina, 16.12.2024 – During her participation in the Kosovar Business Weeks event, Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, visited Plus Market on its 24^th anniversary. She stated that Plus Market Group represents an extraordinary success story and an example of a responsible and conscientious local business for the economic development of the state.

There, Minister Rizvanolli emphasized that over three years, Kosovo’s economy has recorded an average GDP growth of 6.2% — the highest in the region. For more than 4 years, Kosovo’s Gross Domestic Product has increased by 50%, reaching a value of 9.6 billion euros, from the 6.7 billion euros it was before this governance.

According to Minister Rizvanolli, the elimination of barriers to doing business is also a success in advancing the development of local businesses.

“If we look back 5–10 years and consider the results of surveys with local businesses, the main barriers in doing business were related to: unfair competition due to informality and corruption, access to finance, access to international markets, and the lack of employee skills. Today, as I speak before you, I am pleased that we have made fundamental changes in the first and significant progress in all the others. By eliminating high-level corruption and sincerely combating lower-level corruption on one hand, and effectively fighting informality on the other, we have paved the way for fairer competition and new investments — domestic and from the diaspora”, said the Minister.

The Minister also praised the ‘Love Your Own’, ‘Boycot products from Serbia’, ‘Buy Albanian’, and ‘Made in Kosova’ campaigns. Minister Rizvanolli stated that these campaigns have directly contributed to strengthening the awareness of the connection between national identity and the strengthening of domestic economic development.

She specifically mentioned the “Love Your Own” campaign initiated by the Vetëvendosje Movement in 2011, which according to her is synonymous with patriotic policy and the starting point of a process of raising awareness among Kosovo’s citizens about these issues, which has had tangible success in figures. Minister Rizvanolli said that this campaign influenced a decrease in imports from Serbia and an increase in trade exchange with Albania.

At this event, Minister Rizvanolli was accompanied by the member of Parliament from the Vetëvendosje Movement, Valon Ramdani. She held meetings with local businesses participating in the fair held within the premises of Plus Market Group, as well as meetings with women selling artisanal products, numerous local producers, and citizens. The Minister also met with actor and director Enver Petrovci and pianist and professor Valbona Pula Petrovci.