Six new ambassadors from Kosovo, have represented their homeland days ago in Italy, at the European Balkan Forum, organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Students from Kosovo discussed the Europe they want and gathered ideas for a common European future. Before the representatives of the European Commission, they have several times demanded visa liberalization for Kosovo.
Suhel, Dea, and Senad, along with many peers from the 33 EU member states and the Western Balkans, attended the European Balkan Forum in Rome last month.
Senad Dërguti with the group from Kosovo met representatives from all over the world, where for four days in a row in five groups discussed various topics.
“The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has organized a conference with students coming from all over the European Union, but also including countries from the Western Balkans, including Kosovo. From Kosovo we were a group of participating students and then within the conference all students were equal in treatment and were divided into five groups. We have mainly talked about the barriers or challenges that information technology is facing today, and the cyber attacks in the Western Balkan countries,” he said.
Senad also had a presentation before the Italian Minister, Luigi Di Maio and the Vice President of the European Commission, Dubravka Shuica, where, among other things, he mentioned the request for visa liberalization.
“Because we had the opportunity to meet students from all over Europe, because we had the opportunity to meet senior officials of the Italian government, we also had the opportunity to talk about visa liberalization. I personally and also my colleagues have mentioned many times this issue of the need for liberalization for Kosovo “, says Dërguti.
For Dea Fetiu, who studies at the Faculty of Law, this remains an experience that will serve her for the future. She says that the topics discussed in this forum were current and showed the views of Kosovar youth.
“We participated with six other students from Kosovo, where we had the honor and in a way to represent the demands of the youth there. This forum has been organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, knowing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs like the entire current government of Italy is oriented to give voice to young people. That is why this conference they organized was made in order for us to draft some proposals and which will later be used in order to develop new strategies on how to involve young people in decision-making in Europe. “, Emphasizes Fetiu.
One of the new ambassadors of the European Union, who attended in Rome, says that this will remain an unforgettable experience. Suhel Ahmeti has also mentioned Kosovo’s request for visa liberalization several times during his activities in Italy.
“When we saw our peers who came to Rome from different EU countries, they did not have such barriers as the Western Balkans, Kosovo has in terms of visas. We had to fill out many forms before going to Italy. There have been many bureaucratic procedures and we have raised this issue there and we have told them to remove these barriers for young people of Kosovo, so we can represent our country and be part of the decision-making, given that Kosovo is aspiring to be part of the EU. The voice of young people should also be heard”, he said for KosovaPress.
This forum is organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in partnership with the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). 78 students from European countries and the Western Balkans presented recommendations to the government, European institutions and civil society.
