Skopje, 30.05.2023 – The Minister of Economy of the Republic of Kosovo, Artane Rizvanolli, attended the MEF 2023 Energy Forum, which is being held in Skopje, North Macedonia.

The panel of ministers composed of Minister Rizvanolli, her counterpart from North Macedonia, Kreshnik Bekteshi, the Special Representative of the German Federal Government for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin and the Director of the Energy Community, Artur Lorkowski discussed policies and technology towards decarbonization, increasing investments in renewable energy sources and discussed the projects and great opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.

Rizvanolli emphasized that cooperation in the energy sector is not just a nice word for policy-makers, but something that directly improves the lives of our citizens and promised that they will continue to intensify the work.

Minister Rizvanolli also spoke about the measures taken by the Government of Kosovo in facing the energy crisis and about the ongoing energy projects, such as the project for the installation of a battery storage facility with a capacity of over 200 MWh, which project is supported by MCC, the announcement of the auction for the construction of the solar energy park with a capacity of 100 MW and the solar heating project that is being implemented in Prishtina.

At the forum, recommendations were given on how to ensure greater involvement of the private sector and citizens in energy reforms and to provide projects with a clear methodology and criteria through which investment priority will be set.

The North Macedonian Energy Forum has been held since 2018 as an initiative promoting dialogue on various energy-related topics, strategic energy investments in the region and providing alternative solutions related to geostrategic energy positions.