#Kosova15: What’s next?

The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, His Excellency Dr AK Abdul Momen, MP,  while delivering a speech at Shahabuddin Park in Gulshan on the 100th Birth Anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, talked about the struggles waged during the Bangladesh Liberation War and before, as well as the challenges the country faced after independence. He remarked, "Once you become an independent State, great efforts must be made to be accepted by the international community. We have experienced these difficulties. The Ambassador of Kosovo is sitting across from us. Even though they have a lot of support from the most powerful countries like the US, as a new country they still face the problems." And this is entirely correct. We are going through similar issues and have enough will and energy, as well as the support of our friends, to overcome these great challenges as Bangladesh has done before.

Despite many challenges and difficulties, we Kosovars are immensely proud of the progress of our country and people. As a country, until June 1999, we were under Serbian occupation and repression. After liberation, with the support of the most part of the international community including Bangladesh, Kosovo had a transitional period of less than nine years. The Republic of Kosovo declared its independence on February 17, 2008.

The Republic of Kosovo, the youngest country in Europe, has advanced remarkably in every area over the past 15 years. Today, we have a functional, prosperous, stable, and multi-ethnic State with a diverse society and steadily growing economy. 

Fifteen years of independence can be assumed to be a very short period for any country. Kosovo has scored many important achievements during this time. Among them, the most significant are the maintenance and strengthening of internal stability, the strengthening of democratic standards, the integration of ethnic communities into society, the maintenance of macroeconomic stability and continuous economic growth. Except for the economic shrinkage caused by the pandemic in 2020, Kosovo has again achieved a growth trend. In the last two years, we have grown just over 13 percent in total. However, inflation as in many other countries, alongside the trade deficit have led us to still not achieve the economic indicators we desire. What is pleasing to us is that we have a trade surplus in some service areas. Particularly in the field of ICT, our companies are achieving great success. 

In addition, Kosovars living abroad are very generous and patriotic just as Bangladeshis, and their remittances have a huge impact on the development of our country. On the other hand, our global indicators of democracy and rule of law are developing very rapidly. In 2022, our national democratic governance rating improved. Also last year, Kosovo became one of two countries that have made the most progress in the rule of law, along with its determination to fight corruption. The necessary infrastructure for development has also been largely established. We now have relatively good infrastructure and new highways that link us internally but also with neighbouring countries. We are also developing new projects to develop railway networks and energy capacity. We are always optimistic for a brighter tomorrow.

Throughout these years, alongside general achievements we have also been proud of the success of our people across all sectors, especially in arts and sports. Young Kosovar filmmakers have had significant success at prestigious international film festivals. We also celebrate the accomplishments of other young Kosovan artists. As a country, we left some successful years behind in sports as well. Our athletes have won gold medals in numerous competitions, like the Rio Olympics 2016 and the Tokyo Olympics 2020, but also in the World and European Championships in different sports.

Along with success, we also encounter obstacles. Kosovo was reborn from its ashes with the end of the Serbian occupation and its efforts to exterminate the majority of Kosovars. But Kosovo is a country of its people, of Kosovar Albanians as the majority community, but also of Kosovar Bosniaks, Serbs, Turks, Romas, Egyptians and others. More than half of the countries have recognised our independence and they support the territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo. The majority of these countries are geographically close to our country, and they realised that the Republic of Kosovo case is unique and cannot be used as a precedent for other cases. In addition, they considered the peace and stability of the region as well as their own peace and stability. On the other side, the International Court of Justice ruled that the declaration of independence of Kosovo was not in violation of international law.

On the 15th anniversary of our independence, as the Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to Bangladesh, I wish for my beautiful country to be recognised by all South Asian countries. We deserve and need official recognition. For example, Bangladesh, one of the South Asian countries, as well as Pakistan and the Maldives, recognised us and now we have friendly and very close relationships with them. We also want to establish diplomatic relations and develop cooperation with other South Asian countries, such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan. It is not enough to just keep the communication channels open, we need to develop formal and concrete collaborations.

Despite difficulties and challenges, Kosovo will continue to strengthen itself, contribute to regional peace, integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures, and move forward as a respected entity of the international community. The statement made by Minister Momen regarding the difficulties reflected our situation. Even if it is very challenging, we will continue to work for peace, happiness and prosperity of our people by continuing on our way like Bangladesh has done. Kosovo celebrates its independence anniversary on February 17 and Bangladesh on March 26. Happy Independence Day, Kosovo! Happy Independence Day, Bangladesh! May our countries live forever!

Güner Ureya is the Ambassador of Republic of Kosovo to The People's Republic of Bangladesh