Prishtina, 02.12.2017 – Minister of Economic Development Valdrin Lluka participated in the European Youth Award – EYA, a pan-European competition for European youth, entrepreneurs and innovators who develop digital projects that aim social development, which was held in Graz, Austria, and where he awarded the event’s main prize.

Minister Lluka spoke on this occasion on Kosovo’s youth and its potential to be the main pillar of the country’s economic development. “We have a young population, which is a blessing for our country, but we also have an obligation to find a mechanism to educate and employ them,” he said.

The Head of MED spoke on a project under development, which is expected to benefit from 60 million euro in investments, 80 percent of which is in infrastructure aimed at covering 98 percent of Kosovo territory with fiber optics, which is meant to provide high speed broadband internet in all Kosovo villages, schools and hospitals, while the remainder (12 million) will be spent on developing human capacities, by training and promoting youth employment in Kosovo and abroad.

Minister Lluka also emphasized that institutions Europe-wide have three main obligations: 1. To invest in infrastructure and remove all barriers for youth development, 2. To invest in education and ensure that education systems are based on market demands, and 3. To establish funds and platforms that support innovative ideas and more.

Minister Lluka gave EYA’s main prize, won by the project “Erase all the kitties”, which aims to educate children between 8 and 12 years-old in programming.

In the festival’s “Access in public” category, Egzona Hoxha from Kosova won the prize for developing an application for persons with special needs, in which they can see which facilities, roads or pavements are constructed to suit the needs of these persons.

Under the auspices of this visit, Minister Lluka met with the new European Parliament Member, and a friend of Kosovo, Mr. Lukas Mandl, as well as the Vice President of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), z. Nigel Hickson, to discuss on Republic of Kosovo’s web domain.

EYA festival, conducted under the patronage of the Secretary General of Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, and organized by the International Center for New Media, a non-for-profit organization from Salzburg, Austria.