Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Mr. Skender Reçica and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Mr. Shyqeri Bytyqi, today in a ceremony case, have signed a co-operation agreement between the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Education and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). This cooperation agreement further deepens the commitment of the MLSW to co-operate with MEST and GIZ for the joint YES project (Youth, Employment and Skills).
Therefore, this agreement is of special importance, as MLSW and MEST are coordinating policies for young people of Kosovo to be treated in terms of training, vocational training, career orientation and ultimately their sustainable employment in Kosovo.
Minister Mr. Reçica in his speech at this ceremony thanked the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for the support given to the state of Kosovo. This support is directly related to the employment and vocational training of young people, the reintegration of returnees into our society, the support of the internal capacities of MLSW, in particular the Employment Agency of the Republic of Kosovo.
Minister Mr. Reçica stressed that training, youth preparation for the labor market, and youth employment is already an obligation of ours towards the European agenda and is also focused on the 2018-2020 Economic Reform Program and the Sector Strategy of Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
In order to realize the target of youth employment, he stressed that the inter-sector working group has already drafted the youth action plan 2017-2020 and this plan will be sent for approval to the Government by the end of the year. Therefore, this cooperation agreement between MLSW, MEST and GIZ is an agreement from which many projects and programs will be launched, which will support the implementation of this plan.
In his speech Minister of MEST, Mr. Shyqeri Bytyqi emphasized that the cooperation agreement between MLSW, MEST and GIZ will further support the MEST priority for the implementation of the Kosovo Education Strategic Plan 2017-2021 and will support the improvement of quality in vocational training of young people.
This agreement is among the highest cost agreements ever given by the Federal Government of Germany, the State of Kosovo, in particular MLSW and MEST, and the commitment of the two ministries to implement this agreement will be at the highest level. The projects that will be implemented by this agreement aim Kosovo to pave the clear path towards its economic development, creating good conditions for youth employability and sustainable job creation, vocational training and the provision of a qualitative education in Kosovo.