The Central Bank of Kosovo has organized the roundtable, the meeting of the Re-establishment Forum of the National Payments Council in order to support reforms in the field of payments, through the expansion of inclusion and increased cooperation between the actors of the payment market ecosystem in Kosovo.

During this meeting, the governor of CBK, Ahmet Ismaili, said that the purpose of this initiative is to reorganize and make the National Payments Council (NPC) functional, update on developments in the legal and technical infrastructure in the field of payments, and define a national plan for financial inclusion and reducing the use of cash where stakeholder activities will be defined and agreed to increase access.

Ismaili said that this platform helps in the development of the country's economy, and also helps investors in expanding their businesses.

Also, according to him, the developed payment system prevents money laundering and the financing of terrorism

He also said that even the latest regulation of the CBK on cash operations marks a very big advance in terms of alignment with the requirements and standards for membership in SEPA

The Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, while saying that the government is ready to cooperate for this system to develop as quickly as possible, emphasized that digitalization as such has many advantages and many benefits for the country.

According to him, through this initiative the financing of illegal activities is also prevented.

He said that the purpose of this is to switch to a digital system that requires less administration and lower costs.

He added that the less money you have, the more liquidity there is in the system, and the more such transactions there is, the more information there is for economic operators.

The CBK has started undertaking actions within the Strategic Plan 2024-2028 for the activities that are planned and related to the field of the payment system, such as the advancement of the legal and technical infrastructure of the CBK for membership in the SEPA payment scheme and access to the EU Instant Payment System (TIPS), the development of the technical infrastructure to enable fast payments 24/7, the creation of the national QR Code and the standardization of the API for the interconnection of systems as well as the reduction of cash payments as well as the promotion of electronic payments.