Prishtina, 17.06.2022 – The Deputy Minister of Economy, Mentor Arifaj, last week took part in the meeting between the representatives of the European Commission and the 6 countries of the Western Balkans held in Brussels.

The topic of discussion at this meeting was the Regulatory Dialogue between the European Union (EU) and the Western Balkans.

Deputy Minister Arifaj expressed his gratitude for the invitation made to this important meeting to discuss and disclose; challenges, ideas, progress, and plans that will contribute to further cooperation between Kosovo and other Western Balkan countries and the European Union.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) represents an important sector of Kosovo’s economy, and our country must continue to build its potential in this sector given that Kosovo has one of the youngest populations in Europe and that it is an important priority to adapt to digitalization trends.

Deputy Minister Arifaj emphasized that the creation of an ICT ecosystem is an important step towards a business development – oriented environment and education in the country.

“We are very interested in having the same legislative and regulatory environment in this sector as in EU countries, in order to transpose EU directives relating to this sector into domestic laws and have them implemented as soon as possible”, stated Arifaj.

During the panel on the topic of the European Electronic Communications Code, Arifaj stated that, as regards the transposition of the European Electronic Communications Code, the Ministry of Economy is drafting the Concept Document and, upon its approval, by the end of this year, it is expected to start drafting the draft-law on this directive.

While the Law on Cost Reduction for Broadband Networks has been approved by the Assembly of Kosovo in December 2021 and is now in force.

As regards the 5G developments, Deputy Minister Arifaj stated: “We are drafting the Digital Agenda 2030 where, among other things, this agenda also envisages the development of 5G technologies in Kosovo.”

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Economy will soon implement all procedures for the implementation of a 5G project as a non-public network at the Industrial and Training Park campus in Prizren.

In the end, Deputy Minister Arifaj informed the participants that Kosovo will host the “Prishtina 2022” Digital Summit for the Western Balkans in September and used the opportunity to invite them to be active participants in this important event for the countries of the Western Balkans and beyond.