The President of the Board of Prishtina Mall, Fatmir Zymberi, said that despite various challenges, Kosovo has a good climate for investments.
At the international conference “Freedom of Speech Borders”, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the KosovaPress News Agency, Zymberi showed the progress of the construction of Prishtina Mall to the audience, who emphasized that this project is the largest private investment in Western Balkans.
In the second panel with the topic “The innovation steps in the economic, social and culture development”, Zymberi mentioned three issues regarding the construction of Prishtina Mall and political stability in the country, which he said are important to present in this panel.
“Prishtina Mall is the largest private investment in the Western Balkans, the first phase is Prishtina Mall, there are two more phases that will come, but the first one is completed and is progressing well, as well as having a very safe journey. I would like to mention that in 2017 we started the organization and analysis of the internal and external market to see their development in these regions. From 2017 until Prishtina Mall was opened, many governments have changed in Kosovo, which means that there has been goodwill from all governments from all parties. Of course, that Kosovo’s opportunities are not great to be able to have any direct support, but at least an understanding even where there was an opportunity to help us, both the current government and those that have helped us earlier. This means that there is a good climate for investments. We all welcome investment. I am a Kosovo Albanian born here, I lived in Norway for 25 years and I came from that country with a greater will and now I live in Kosovo, so I feel very happy”, said Zymberi.
Regarding the second issue, he said that Kosovo has capacities, there are workers and there are companies that have developed.
“The second point, it is true that Prishtina Mall was designed by a large international company from America, based in New York. However, why I mention this case is that the most serious question that has been asked from them to us is whether Kosovo has the capacity to build such a project. And I am telling you with full responsibility that from my experience, from the first day and today that I am with you, 95 percent of all the works that were done in Prishtina Mall, were done by Kosovo companies. I was surprised too. This shows that Kosovo has the capacity, there are workers, there are companies that have developed at that level to be able to do such projects. Prishtina Mall was built with all certified international standards, as if this center was in Frankfurt, New York, or Stockholm”, he said.
As for the third issue, Zymberi emphasized that despite the great political will to move the economy forward, there are some actions that must be taken to create political and economic stability.
“The third, which is not very good, has to do with the political situation in Kosovo, despite the great political will to move the economy forward, there are actions that should be done differently in order to create political and economic stability. Because these are interconnected, we have experienced this situation very badly, because on March 3, 2020, the construction of Prishtina Mall began and we opened it on March 9, 2023. It is impossible to do such a project in such a short time. Prishtina Mall has 240,000 square meters of construction”, he said.
In the conference hosted by KosovaPress, members of the largest European network of news agencies EANA (www.newsalliance.org), as well as that of South-Eastern Europe ABNA SE (www.abnase.com), are participating, where KosovaPress is member in these networks.
Especially for this conference, Nataliya Kostina, head of the Department for Foreign Relations at the Ukrainian News Agency ‘Ukrinform’, also comes from Kyiv.
The first panel focused on the contemporary challenges facing news agencies and media in this period of great global change.
In the second panel, the speakers were the president of the Prishtina MALL Board, Fatmir Zymberi, the leader of the UBT College Edmond Hajrizi, university professor Besa Luzha, Kushtrim Krasniqi from the Kosovo Olympic Committee, and Tualant Hodaj from the Kosovo Football Federation, who will present views about the possibility of creating synergies to support innovative initiatives that advance social prosperity. /KosovaPress/
