Prishtina, 05.03.2014 – Ministry of Economic Development with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, organized a seminar on the experience of wastewater treatment in Japan, attended by representatives of municipalities, public enterprises, water supply companies, and the Hydro Meteorological Institute, and various donors.

Environmental issues are a global problem and also a major concern for many countries in the world, and Kosovo is no exception, where wastewater treatment is not satisfactory and needs further investments. Since wastewater is one of the main polluters, they should be treated permanently.

Given this situation, MED, in cooperation with JICA, have estimated that to improve the treatment of wastewaters in Kosovo, skilled human resources must first be created in wastewater treatment.

Thanks to this cooperation, in 2013 officials working in the wastewater sector in Kosovo were trained in Japan in order to obtain experiences from this country in wastewater treatment.

After the training, the group decided to share their experiences with their peers and therefore organized this workshop.

Issues of focus in their training in Japan, which were also shared with participants, were the history of wastewater treatment in Japan, the current state of wastewater treatment, methods of wastewater treatment, the legal and tariff system, operation of treatment plants, treatment of sludge, and awareness of citizens on wastewaters.

This is a three-year project, where each year a delegation composed of officials from relevant institutions is sent to a study tour to increase their human capacities.