Development Fund

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On May 01, 2014, “Life in Kosovo” held a debate on promises made about a development fund.

Even though Minister of Finance Besim Beqaj confirmed his presence in the debate, two minutes before the debate a message was sent by Gezim Baxhaku, minister’s advisor, saying that he cannot come.

In absence of Minister Beqaj, “Life in Kosovo” held a debate with: Hykmete Bajrami, MP of LDK; Besnik Bislimi, from Vetevendosje; and Agim Sahiti, a farmer in Kosovo.

This attitude did not surprise the other participants in the debate and they said that the main reason Beqaj did not attend the debate was that he does not have enough facts to defend the “fund”.

Hykmete Bajrami, MP of LDK, who was also part of the debate, said that the failure of minister Beqaj to attend the debate shows that the government is not so interested to support this fund.

According to the other panelist, Besnik Bislimi from Vetevendosje, if the fund had been well-intentioned, Beqaj would immediately come to receive the credits/merits.

MP Hykmete Bajrami also said that the prime minister keeps talking about the development fund, but he has never explained which the criteria for the businesses to apply.

“In the beginning the prime minister said that the fund will be 1 billion Euros, and then he said that the fund will be 1.5 billion Euros, and just recently he raised it again and said that it will be 2 billion euros. We do not even know what is this fund about and the criteria to apply”, Bajrami said.

Farmer Agim Sahiti, also invited in the debate, who has a poultry farm, said that firstly some requirements must be fulfilled and that money should be for business development.

“I use 40 liters of fuel per hour and when there isn’t electricity for 10 hours I use 400 liters, which costs 500 Euros. Therefore, I have higher costs than the businesses that do not lack electricity”, Sahiti said.

Moreover, Besnik Bislimi added that there are some inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture that give grants for people who do not even have agricultural land; whereas the farmer Sahiti told Bislimi that what he heard is not true.