Pristina, 3 September 2008
In the opening speech, the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, said he considered the beginning of the new school year to have been a success, and thanked the Minister of Education, Science and Technology for his commitment in preparing for the positive start to this school year.
Prime Minister Thaçi stressed that in the coming weeks, the Government would be focused on efforts to reduce poverty and social welfare cases in Kosovo through reform of the social and institutional sectors in Kosovo.
In the opening speech, Prime Minister Thaçi said that he also considered the start of work marking the line designating the Kosovo-Macedonia border to be very positive.
The government agreed a proposal for members of the Kosovo Pensions Trust Board. In accordance with the procedures for proposing and naming of members of this Board, six members were proposed – three local and three international – and this list will proceed to the Kosovo Assembly to be agreed.
The KLA War-Wounded Association had made a request for financial support for arranging prostheses for legs, hands and eyes for the KLA wounded.
The government considered this to be an urgent and essential need and thus approved the request, allocating a sum of 150 thousand euros for this purpose.
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development proposed to the Government that all seed-production companies should be exempted from paying for phyto-sanitary services and seed analysis at the Agricultural Institute of Peja for 2008. The government agreed this proposal.
The government announced September to be anti-discrimination month in Kosovo. Under the slogan ‘All equal and without discrimination’, a range of activities would be developed during the month, according to the plan prepared by the Prime Minister’s Office. These activities would promote human rights, equal opportunities, anti-discrimination, and the rights of children, minorities and those with special needs.
In today’s meeting, the Government approved Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi’s proposal for increasing the staff of the Office of the Prime Minister with some new offices. Four new offices will function under the Office of the Prime Minister: the Office for Communities, the Office for Veterans, the Office for Pensioners and the Office for Business Community Liaison. It was considered that this would increase the efficiency of the Office of the Prime Minister’s work.