Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Donika Gervala opened the conference “Economic Empowerment of Women in the Western Balkans” organized by “Friends of Europe” in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo, reports Anadolia.
Representatives of domestic and international organizations, as well as activists from Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, are participating in this one-day conference. Some of the participants of the conference will speak online.
The head of Kosovo’s diplomacy, Gervalla, in her opening speech stated that women in Kosovo have historically faced great obstacles, not only in the field of economics, but also including discrimination, limited access to education and training. She stressed that cultural norms limit their mobility in many ways.
Gervalla said that during 2021 and 2022, the Government of Kosovo awarded scholarships to women who want to study abroad.
“Despite all efforts, there are still challenges in the empowerment of women in the economy in Kosovo, including limited access to finance, care and the issue of wages. A more favorable environment must be created for the participation of women in leadership in Kosovo,” Gervala emphasized.
Gervalla said that Kosovo was strong whenever it relied on good friends. In this context, she emphasized that she hopes that relations will be strengthened, not only with the working groups, but also with all the networks that the “Friends of Europe” organization has, and that knowledge and experience will be spread.
This is the third working conference organized by “Friends of Europe”, after Tirana, Albania, in April 2022 and Niš, Serbia, in October 2022.
The “Friends of Europe” trip to the Balkans aims to bypass the debates in order to focus on moving the region forward in a practical sense through political imagination and looking to the future, strengthening and developing the Western Balkans and overcoming the gap between the region and the European Union.
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