UN Radio

8^th B wave of Privatisation

By Birol Urcan

Hello and welcome, you are listening to UNMIK on air.

Peja brewery is one of the most successful Socially Owned Enterprises in post conflict Kosovo

The company which was founded in 1971, has today an annual turn over of 10 million € euro.

The Brewery which has around 500 workers with an average monthly salary of 350 euros, is just one of the important SOEs that are going to be privatized in January 2006

Mamica Gashi the Head of special spin off unit of the KTA claims that the 8 B wave of privatization is very important for the Kosovar economy

“I think that there will be a boost of development for Kosovar economy, new investments will come in to Kosovo.

And there will be new jobs created, these companies for the moment are really productive, but they can not go forever like this, new investment and managerial staff is needed”

Other SOEs that are going to be privatized in this January are The Grand and The Iliria hotels, the Rahovec vineyards and the magnesite mines of Xym and Golesh.

Safet Gerxhaliu an economy expert with the Chamber of Commerce of Kosova views this round of privatization as offering good opportunities.

“If we talk about the companies that are going to be privatized in 8 B round, we should say that based on an analyses in after war economic trends this companies were the only ones that continued a trend of a real economic activity”

But privatizing all these successful and important SOEs in one wave also needs a great deal of work and it is a great challenge.

“I think that is obligatory for all players that are involved on privatization process as: KTA or Ministry of trade and industry to have really serious and transparent approach.

Because it is something that is in benefit of Kosovar economy and it is something that in the past was invested a lot”

Mamica Gashi claims that they are ready for this challenge, and that this 8^th B round is going to pass very successfully.

“Regional offices of KTA and KTA in Pristina are fully ready to deliver the information and also I doing the desirable marketing to attract not only the potential investors inside but also the foreign ones. We already have investors interested in these companies inside and outside of Kosovo”

The next months will see a lot of activity with the receiving of bids for as the the last date for qualification is 9^th of January 2006, and the bid day is 18 of January.

So there is still time to make that offer.

Thank you for listening to UNMIK On Air, have a good day.