Ibrahim Rugova Quotes

During these two and a half years that have followed the war, the most urgent problem we have encountered was: to activate the public enterprises, to bring them up to the level that international markets demand and we are just now getting them prepared for privatization.

First, we will focus on the privatization of small and medium sized enterprises, followed by the medium size industry and then we will move on to the heavy industry.

So as far as Serbia is concerned, it does not have the right to influence the privatization or to claim any property, because Kosovo is a former member of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The privatization law draft was recently released and I believe that very soon we will start applying it, of course taking into consideration the provisions of United Nations Mission in Kosovo.

We have used the presence of UNMIK, as well as other European and American agencies to establish a legal framework compatible with the European Union and that is already an advantage. We have seen the positive effects of this and our parliament will continue to go this way.

My vision is to have an independent Kosovo, democratic, with a politically tolerant society and with a solid economy, integrated into the EU, the NATO and to continue with our good relations with the USA.

Kosovo today is closer to Europe than other countries in the region of South Eastern Europe.

We have the EURO as a currency, which means a lot. It has not just stabilized the situation in Kosovo politically and economically, but also facilitated the direct contact that we have with Europe.

As you see the political problems are closely connected with the economical problems. With the help of politics, we will open the way for the economy and this is why all these problems are included in the program of the newly elected government.

Kosovo is a small country but it also has a lot of riches that were granted to us by God.

I want to emphasize the fact that the independence of Kosovo should and will be recognized.

Serbia did not want to recognize our country in a peaceful way, so that is why they wanted to destroy us. All our efforts to find a peaceful solution were impossible. In order to save the people, NATO had to intervene.

As the president of Kosovo, I am more concerned about the current situation with the employment standing at around 70 % of the population, which is young, with great potential, speaking many foreign languages and having wide expertise.

We had a lot of international help especially from the EU and USA, which helped us to get out of this phase of emergency, to give some dynamism to Kosova.

Today, our economy is divided: fifty percent is the public economy and fifty percent is the private economy that includes small companies employing from 4 to 200 workers.

The different Ministries have to work more on the promotion of the country, to build Kosovo's public image. Concrete projects must be assembled, in order to activate our businessmen to have more contacts. We have to create a positive image about ourselves.

My vision is that our country should be integrated in the EU, to transfer a part of our independence there. It is also our duty to do it, if we want to establish trade and a sound economy. This is the vision that I am working on and I will continue to work in the future.

I am going to meet everyone, including the KLA, to find out what they think.

However, we still have the problem of free travel and movement, since the Travel Documents issued by UNMIK as the substitute to passports, are not fully recognized yet by all countries.