Following meeting of the Inter-Institutional Steering Committee for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community is held

Minister of European Integration, Vlora Çitaku, also the chair of the Inter-Institutional Steering Committee, initially thanked the presents for their participations in the meeting. The purpose of today’s meeting was the presentation of draft recommendations which emerged from the Conference held on the date of 5th of November of this year between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and the European Commission entitled “Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, Current situation, Policies and  Commitments after 2015”. The purpose of these recommendations is to address key issues which are associated with speeding up the implementation of the Strategy, among which it is worth mentioning: coordination in all levels, budgeting of action plans, and the inclusion of community representatives in events organized by public institutions and direct communication between representatives of the communities and institutions.

In the meeting was also discussed for upcoming steps for the implementation of the strategy, and how it is planned to address issues which are related with the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the period for the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan 2009-2015.
On this occasion, Minister Çitaku said that she remains committed to push forward this process and stated: “Until now we had limited progress in this strategy, mainly due to the lack of coordination and the lack of budgeting. I have already raised these two issues, and I hope to see a response and action by responsible institutions”.

As for the continuity of this process, Minister Çitaku stated: “It has been found as necessary to prioritize activities based on sectors, and the Office for Good Governance has already started this process, you will be informed by the director of the office Mr. Habit Hajredini in the upcoming meeting. As a base for prioritizing will also be used the recommendations of the conference, established between the European Commission and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo”.