Minister Hoxha at OECD Paris: Improving services for citizens and businesses by reforming public governance

Paris, 14 December 2017 -Minister of European Integration, Dhurata Hoxha, panellist at the Ministerial Conference of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whereby discussed on the plenary session theme: How should public administration be transformed into delivering services to citizens upon challenging times?

Minister Hoxha in her speech stressed that Kosovo’s strategic goal is EU membership.

“In the light of this goal, public administration requires a level of modernization that will enable better interaction between people and the Government. In the challenging times we are going through and in the ever-increasing use of information technology, we seek to create a structure where services to our citizens are easily accessible and at any time,” stated Minister Hoxha.

After speaking about the new history of the Republic of Kosovo, Minister Hoxha stressed that we had to build a European model-based public administration from the scratch, establishing a new situation to follow with emphasis on the significance of the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

“Assignments arising from SAA are unimaginable without building capacities of public administration institutions and of civil servants to plan, implement and monitor policies and laws, including effective regulation and provision of citizen-oriented efficient public services”, stated Minister Hoxha.

Therefore, outlined Minister Hoxha, we developed a three laws package. Although it is still in the process of finalization, the Law on Organization of Public Administration, the Law on Civil Service and the Law on Salaries, a set of laws aiming for equal, fair, transparent and accountable public administration.

Supported by EU Commission and SIGMA, stated the Minister, we developed the Strategy for Modernization of Public Administration.

“Today’s challenges also push us for Kosovo to move towards a comprehensive governance approach that is still at an early stage but includes reforms such as rationalization of independent and semi-independent agencies in the country. Providing public services at the central and local levels is at the heart of priority issues within the current government strategic framework, stated Minister Dhurata Hoxha.

In addition to the Strategy for Modernization of Public Administration, Minister Hoxha noted, Kosovo has adopted the Strategy for Policy Planning and Coordination, the Strategy for Public Financial Management and the Strategy for Administration Efficiency enhancement, thus completing the strategic framework within public administration general reform. This strategic framework is praised by and meets the principles of public administration set by SIGMA, outlined Minister Hoxha.

Kosovo is about to launch a first EU sector budget support program in public administration reform, said Minister Hoxha, and added that “We have negotiated with the EU a set of reforms to take place during three upcoming years, to be supported with 22m euros directly from the budget. One of the requirements of this program is the reduction of bureaucracy by removal of unjustified licenses and permits applied by the public administration institutions, stated Minister Dhurata Hoxha.

 

 

 

Last modified: August 9, 2022