Srzentić, Krasniqi: Montenegro and Kosovo share common values

Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media Tamara Srzentić is paying an official visit to the Republic of Kosovo. During the first day of her visit, Minister Srzentić met with Minister of Local Government Administration of Kosovo Elbert Krasniqi. Montenegro and Kosovo have strong friendly relations, and cooperation will be significantly improved through concrete projects, Srzentić said.

Minister Srzentić thanked her Kosovo's counterpart for the invitation and hospitality, noting that she was especially pleased to pay an official visit to the Republic of Kosovo.

We want to build cooperation with Kosovo on specific projects, and that is why I am glad that during this visit we have identified common interests and space for development and cooperation. We saw that both administrations are facing the same or similar challenges at the local and central level, we share a similar digital agenda with the aim of modernizing public administration and developing public services based on the needs of citizens, said Srzentić.

The Minister informed Krasniqi about the key projects being implemented in Montenegro in the field of public administration reform, emphasising the importance of reforming the local self-government system, strengthening human resources at the local level, as well as new approaches to governance that should effectively identify and address municipal problems.

She also presented the project of the Digital and Leadership Academy, which is aimed at strengthening the human resources of public servants, and invited Kosovo's public servants to take part in it.

Minister Krasniqi pointed out the efforts of the Government of Kosovo in terms of improving the normative framework of the local self-government system, improving the system of financing municipalities, as well as strengthening their economic potential. He especially emphasised that there is room for cooperation with Montenegro through the mechanism of cross-border cooperation of municipalities.

The two officials confirmed the strong and friendly relations between Montenegro and Kosovo in the field of local self-government development, digitalization and cross-border cooperation, shared a common European vision of the region, and recognised potentials for joint cooperation in modernization of public administration.