REGIONAL PROFILE 2

introduction 2.2

Regional
development
strategy
FOR THE
ECONOMIC REGION
SOUTH
REGION SOUTH
2010 - 2013
An EU funded project managed by the
European Commission Liaison Office Implemented by
 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR
THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH
2010-2013
(The official version of the document is in English)
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

The English version of this document is the version of reference. The document has been produced with the
assistance of the European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo. The content reflects the views of the Regional
Partnership comprising the Core Partnership Working Group, the Thematic Working Groups and other
Stakeholders, and does not represent the official views of European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo.

An EU funded project managed by the

European Commission Liaison Office Implemented by

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION 4
2. REGIONAL PROFILE 7
2.1 Geography, Topography, Natural Resources and Climate Conditions 8
2.2 Population, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market 10
2.3 Economy: Infrastructure and Business Environment 14
2.4 Economy: Production and Service Sectors 17
2.5 Summary conclusions 20
2.6 Stakeholder views 21

3. REGIONAL SWOT ANALYSIS 21

4. STRATEGY 24

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

PRIORITY 1 - DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 25
PRIORITY2 - DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROCESSING 25
PRIORITY 3 - DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM 26

3
 1 INTRODUCTION

[Link]
R
egional Economic Development
(RED) started emerging in Kosovo in
late 2008 as an important model for ”The RDA will operate in the framework
creating sustainable development
in regions while, at the same time,
of the economic and structural policy
helping to mitigate the social costs of transi- guidelines determined by the national
tion, particularly by addressing unemploy- line Ministries dealing with topics related
ment as well as part of an effort to build policy
and organizational framework and institu-
to economic, industrial and infrastructur-
tions compatible with those of the European al development in Kosovo. The principle
Union. At the initiative of the Ministry of Lo- of subsidiarity will be considered and core
cal Government Administration, with the
support of the European Commission Liaison
competences of the municipal adminis-
Office to Kosovo, five inter-municipal part- trations, which they are supposed to car-
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

nership agreements creating five Economic ry out by law, will remain unaffected.”
Areas (Regions) and establishing five Region-
al Development Agencies (RDAs) have been
signed. The agreements mark the beginning
of the EU RED process in Kosovo. EU RED approach is also aimed at introducing
Kosovo until now does not have a tangible Kosovo to EU economic and social cohesion
concept of regional development policy. As a policy. The European Commission has previ-
direct result of the turbulent period of conflict ously adopted this approach in several coun-
and post-conflict transition, followed by a rel- tries of the Balkan region with a view to fa-
atively short existence as an independent miliarise pre-accession countries with
state, regional development has not emerged Structural Funds’ procedures and further
as a matter of priority. Consequently, there is structures needed upon accession.
no legal framework for regional development. An agreement related to Economic Region
The inter-municipal partnership agreement South has been signed on 16 December 2008
describes the reference framework in which between the Mayors representing Municipal-
RDAs operate and institutional relations in ities of Dragash/Dragaš, Malisheva/
the following manner: Mališevo, Mamusha/Mamuša, Prizren, Ra-
With the aspirations to bring Kosovo closer hovec/Orahovac and Suhareka/Suvareka.
to the EU, the inter-municipal agreement re- Subsequently, the Regional Development
lated to regional development may be seen as Agency South has been registered and funded
the first step in the direction of creating spe- in June 2009. During the second half of 2009
cific regional development framework. The RDA South has established and equipped the

4
 INTRODUCTION 1

premises and has achieved fully operational ration of a REDS serves a number of purposes
status with staff hired, trained, statute and such as providing a strategic framework for bal-
annual work plan approved by the Board of anced economic development in the region;
Partners. Work on the first Regional Eco- serving as a strategic document for the pro-
nomic Development Strategy (REDS) has been gramming of future EU funds, other donors’
initiated in October 2009 with the collection funds and eventually, local funds; and provid-

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

of the socio-economic data and with the work ing the basis for future participation in the EU’s
leading to the establishing a regional part- structural funding.
nership group representing all groups of In summarizing the EU best practices in the
stakeholders in the development process. area of regional development planning, the
The initial tasks of the stakeholder partner- characteristics and qualities of an effective re-
ship consist of participating in the drafting gional development strategy could be de-
process of the first REDS for Economic Region scribed in the following way:
South, building capacity to participate in the An effective regional development strategy:
ECLO grant scheme for EU RED as well as par- • is embedded in its organisational, economic
ticipating in the creating of the development and social context;
project pipeline. • establishes a widely-shared vision for the
The capacities for designing and developing future development of the region;
concepts for regional initiatives to enhance • engages stakeholders in an open and pro-
investments and employment are still limited ductive manner during preparation of the
in the region and generally in Kosovo as is expe- strategy;
rience with local support to the private sector. • communicates its key messages clearly to a
Under the RED approach, RDA South together variety of audiences;
with the development partnership will coordi- • identifies clear mechanisms for delivery;
nate different efforts, design projects, mobilize • phases and sequences key investments and
both Government and donor funds, and pro- actions;
vide a vehicle for effectively implementing the • establishes a simple but effective frame-
area based development strategies. The prepa- work for monitoring.

5
 1 INTRODUCTION

While this draft strategy may not fully meet process, rather than a series of individual
all of the above characteristics, it represents projects and programmes.
the initial effort in regional strategy building The REDS for the Economic Region South
and provides a starting point in the future has been elaborated by the working group
continuous process of regional development. which reflects the regional partnership. The
It will be undergoing further enhancement, partnership principle which is fundamental
adjustment and updating as a result of grow- to the EU approach to economic and social co-
ing capacities of partnership members and hesion policy has been fully preserved
their constituencies and as a result of the throughout the strategy building process.
monitoring and evaluation process. Inten- The „bottom up” approach adopted during
tionally, the REDS focuses on a limited num- the strategy building process is based on the
ber of key issues rather than trying to be too principle related to subsidiarity rule. Namely,
am¬bitious. In a way it can be viewed as the that people in the region are best placed to
beginning of a learning process whereby the identify their needs and decide on the solu-
increased capacity of authors and stakehold- tions which address in the best possible way
ers would enable a wider range of policy issues their development needs. Consequently, the
in future iterations and greater depth of the RDA South Team with the support of EU RED
analysis. For example, the future versions Technical Assistance Adviser has provided the
may provide more elaborate economic justifi- guidance, the capacity building activities, as-
cations for specific interventions related to sisted in the analysis of the data, proposed al-
public spending or Public-Private Partner- ternative views as well as let the drafting of
ships in areas considered priorities for invest- the final text but has not played a dominating
ment support; to give a multi-annual profile role in the area of providing the content.
for the phasing of their investment priorities; Keeping the ownership of the strategy process
and to ensure that the proposals are in con- with the regional partners and building re-
formity with EU policies, particularly in the gional capacity has proven in many countries
areas of environment. Finally, future versions to be a key factor in the regeneration of eco-
will strive to achieve a much better coordina- nomically depressed or struggling regions. In
tion with the strategies and priorities of the the future, when coordination with the cen-
line ministries and central-level institutions. tral-level institutions becomes stronger, the
It also needs to be stressed that this document approach may need to evolve into a combina-
has been prepared with limited financial and tion of ”bottom up” and ”top down”.
human resources in relatively brief period of The operational part of the strategy (pro-
time. Practical guidelines for regional plan- gramming), particularly under the circum-
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

ning have been provided by the EURED Tech- stances where funding mechanisms for major
nical Assistance Team but the methodology priority areas are not clearly prescribed, is al-
itself has been jointly agreed by all five RDA’s. ways in danger of becoming just a “wish list”
Nevertheless, the process has been based on of development partners. To avoid this trap,
three basic principles that reflect the best partners need to use clear prioritizing and se-
practices in the area of regional development quencing criteria. Programmes need to be fo-
planning. These are: cused on relieving constraints of future
1. that regional economic development growth, using region’s competitive advan-
should very closely engage a region-wide tage, increasing employment and rising pro-
partnership that involves municipal gov- ductivity.
ernments, stakeholders from the business Finally, it needs to be mentioned that dur-
community (both, private and public sec- ing the strategic planning process, ECLO has
tors as well as business associations), provided support through an EU RED grant
NGO’s and media; scheme call for proposals. This has not only
2. that the approach to regional development provided RDA South an opportunity to offer
should be ‘bottom up’ – that is, regional uniform support and capacity building relat-
stakeholders should be directly involved in ed to proposal writing and future implemen-
identifying the needs of the Economic Re- tation, but also enabled the partners to file
gion South and developing the strategies programme proposals consistent with the
and projects to address those needs; and strategic ”work in progress”.
3. that the regional development outlined in
the strategy should be seen as an integrated

6
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2

2. Regional
Profile
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

T
he strategy development process tors (Opportunities and Threats) constitutes
started with the collection of socio- the SWOT inventory which has been the start-
economic data relevant to the re- ing point for further SWOT analysis carried
gion. This data has been presented out by the CPWG or the Thematic Working
to the Core Partnership Working Group’s established by the partnership.
Group (CPWG) and subsequently published by This sub-section of the document is focused
the RDA South as ”The Socio-Economic Profile on those facts and preliminary conclusions
of Economic Region South” which constitutes which can be used as a good basis for strategic
the current description of the region expressed orientations of the Regional Economic Devel-
in economic terms. This status of the region opment Strategy for Kosovo Economic Region
lends itself to further analysis of the regional South. Data collection, their refinement and
potential. The purpose of this section is to analysis is a continuous task of RDA South.
summarize the regional profile as well as iden- Additional data and further analysis of data
tify the key issues related to current condi- will be used for various phases of the strategy
tions and needs of the region that need to be building process and for other purposes re-
addressed by the strategy. garding the assessment of different economic
Subsequently, the regional potential and and social issues in the region, particularly at
needs assessment (expressed as Strengths and the Programming Phase.
Weaknesses) combined with the external fac-

7
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.1 Geography, Topography, Natural Resources and Climate Conditions

2.1 Geography, Topography,

Natural Resources and
Climate Conditions

T
he Region South lies in the South-
Western part of Kosovo. It borders
Albania to the West, the FYR of Mac- Malisheva/
North Mališevo
edonia to the Southeast, the mu- Eco-
nomic
nicipalities of Gjakovë/
Ðakovica to the Northwest, Shtime/ West
Central
Economic Rahovec/
Štimlje to the Northeast and Shtërpcë/ Region Economic
Region Orahovac
Štrpce to the East. The region has a total Suhareka/
South East Suvareka
area of 2031 km2 (18.66% of the territory of Economic Economic
Kosovo and consists of 6 municipalities: Priz- Region Region

ren, Dragash/Dragaš, Suhareka/Suvareka, Mamusha/

Mamuša
Malisheva/Mališevo, Rahovec/Orahovac and
Mamusha/Mamuša, that differ significantly
in size - from the largest one of 640 km2 (Priz-
Prizren
ren) to the smallest one of 12.5 km2 (Mamu-
sha/Mamuša) with the remaining four mu-
nicipalities of an average size (280-430 km2) for be used for tourism purposes or
Kosovo. fishing. Majority of smaller riv-
The topography is mixed and includes high ers and streams join the Drini i
Dragash/
mountains, rolling hills, valleys and plains. Bardhe River, which has the Dragaš
The land elevation ranges from about 400 to length of 122 km and is located in
2.750 meters across the mountain areas (peaks the Western part of the region. This
of the Sharri Mountains). On the mountains makes it possible to irrigate good
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

there are extensive forestlands and some nat- portion of arable land. Conse-
ural grazing lands with the abundance of wild quently, a considerable part of ag-
animal life and vegetation. ricultural land in the region, over
While the climate features of the region are 12.500 hectares, is covered by irrigation
dominated by those that are characteristic to systems. This compares with a total of about
the mid-continental climate (with cold win- 55.000 hectares under irrigation in the entire
ters and hot summers), there is also a signifi- Kosovo (about 23%). Kosovo has a nominal pro-
cant influence of milder Mediterranean cli- jected capacity for irrigation of 72.440 ha. Sig-
mate. The maximum temperatures during nificant portion of that untapped potential is
the summer season reach an average of 24.6 believed to be in the Economic Region South.
°C while the lowest temperatures in January Large proportion of land with good quality
average -10 °C. The total rainfall ranges from soils combined with possibilities of further
511 mm to 1.108 mm per year. The climate con- progress in irrigation (Economic Region South
ditions in combination with relatively good already has higher than the average area for
soils make for good base for developing agri- Kosovo of irrigated land) makes the region ap-
culture. Rolling hills with optimal sun expo- propriate for integrated agricultural develop-
sure make it possible to set up quality vine- ment. Availability of graze land creates an op-
yards. portunity for expanding livestock production
The region is considered to have adequate and makes it feasible to improve the technol-
supply of water. None of the rivers is big ogy and livestock quality. Good soils, ade-
enough to organize navigation i.e. river trans- quate exposure combined with favorable cli-
portation for commercial use, but they could mate conditions make the region suitable for

8
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Geography, Topography, Natural Resources and Climate Conditions 2.1

PHOTO: ARBEN LLAPASHTICA

viticulture.
One of the somewhat overlooked natural re-
sources in the region is wood. While Region
South has a relatively high proportion of
wooded land, a significant portion of it is pro-
tected as part of the Sharr National Park or
other protected areas. Wood is to a large ex-
tent harvested in an illegal way (including in
areas of protected zones) predominantly for
heating purposes. While in general, wood
and wood industry cannot be seen as a base for
strategic development of the entire Region
South, there is a lot of space for entrepreneur-
ial ventures. Construction wood is mostly im-
ported and not properly treated. There is po-
tential for introducing higher added value
wood products and semi-products, generating
profits that could be reinvested, thus revital-
izing the natural resource base. primarily for the purposes of tourism develop- Grape
Region South does not possess significant ment. Sharri Mountains have hundreds of plantation
from
ore and mineral deposits which could be ex- meters of skiing tracks which are not fully Rahovec/
ploited with reasonable effectiveness consid- taken advantage of but they present big po- Orahovac
ering necessary capital outlays, long payback tential for further development of winter municipality.
time and possible environmental damage. tourism. Mountains of Koritnik and Pashtrik
The feasibility of exploitation of non-ferrous also present great natural potential for devel-
metal ore deposits has not been conducted but opment of mountain tourism. The Mirusha
required funding is currently not considered Gorge is a protected natural reserve because of
to be a priority for the central government. its scenic string of pools and waterfalls as well
Hence, they could not be seen as one of the as high plant diversity (more than 800 differ-
major drivers of future economic develop- ent species). You can find several rare plants
ment in the Region. The exceptions are good (some are endemic in Kosovo) and protected
quality deposits of gravel (particularly in parts animals, such as land turtles and snakes (e.g.
of the Dukagjini Valley) and rock which is cur- Vipera amodytes). The Mirusha River has
rently exploited for road building (in Suhare- carved a 10 kilometre long canyon near the

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

ka/Suvareka municipality) and other con- convergence with the Drini i Bardhe River and
struction purposes (in the Municipality of created 16 river lakes with waterfalls in be-
Malisheva/Mališevo). Adequate care, howev- tween them. The highest waterfall, between
er, should be paid to developing this activity the lake 8 and 9, is 21 meters high. The biggest
with due consideration to the environment. lake (55 m X 45 m) is the last one with a depth
Unparalleled regional geographic position, of 5 meters.
richness of natural endowments, numerous Overall, Economic Region South has one of
examples of cultural and historic heritage, as the best geo-strategic positions in Kosovo
well as vibrant folklore, make Region South which is a good prospect for strategic develop-
an ideal place for sustainable tourism devel- ment and is an advantage in the context of
opment. Some of the assets such as proximity European integration. Future highway link-
of transit routes and presence of the moun- ing it with a sea port on the one hand and
tains suitable for winter sports as well as with Serbia on the other, combined with geo-
camping and hiking for weekends are already graphical location which borders with Alba-
to some extent being taken advantage of. The nia and FYR of Macedonia make easier to ac-
tourism-related business activities are already cess to international markets and develop
providing a good source for income for local meaningful cross-border cooperation.
population and business people.
Within the Sharri Mountain Range, reach-
ing the heights of up to 2750 m, there are 16
mountain lakes. Major parts of this area are
under protection and are intended to be used

9
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.2 Population, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market

2.2 Population,
Demographics,
Human Resources and
Labour Market
Population Data Demographic Data
Population numbers for Kosovo show an in- Region South has a population that can be
creasing trend. During the period between characterized as young. A study shows that
1948 and 2004 the annual numbers of births over 37% of the population is under the age of
have been increasing. The total population 18. This is related to the average size of the
count has also been growing with the excep- households and the average number of chil-
tion of the period between 1992 and 1996 when dren in the household which in this Region
a massive emigration took place. While cur- are both much higher than the same figures
rently there are no precise data for the popula- for the entire Kosovo. The average size of
tion due to the lack of any recent census, households and the number of children in the
therefore the determination of the population municipalities of the Region South in com-
figures is done by using various methods. Ac- parison to the average numbers for Kosovo is
cording to the latest calculations, the latest presented in the table below.
number for population of Kosovo is estimated The age structure of the Region’s inhabit-
to be close to 2,124,400 inhabitants. ants is such that increasing number of people
It is estimated that the current population are entering a professionally active age brack-
count of the Economic Region South is about et (or „available for work”) which is consid-
513.000 inhabitants which constitutes about ered to be a significant potential. The propor-
24% of the population of Kosovo. The trend for tion of children of the age of up to18-years-old
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

the population in the region is growing. to the total population of this region is 37,1%.
While the region covers less than 19% of the The gender structure of population is almost
territory of Kosovo, the population density is equally distributed with 50% female and 50%
therefore higher than average. male population. For some municipalities of
Municipalities in the Region differ signifi- the region this structure may vary within the
cantly in population density, with Municipal- range of +5%. Number of births in the Region
ities of Mamusha/Mamuša and Prizren being
the most densely populated (respectively 458
persons/km2 and 375 persons/km2) and Mali- TABLE 1: Assessment of population and territory
sheva/Mališevo being the most sparsely popu- of the Economic Region South
lated (212 persons/km2). Number
Municipality Surface (km2)
of population
The ethnic structure of the Region’s popula-
tion is mixed where the Kosovar Albanians Dragash/Dragaš 45.000 435
constitute over 88,5% (454.005 individuals) of Malisheva/Mališevo 65.000 307
the population. The other main ethnicities Prizren 240.000 640
present in the Regions are of Bosniak and Go- Rahovec/Orahovac 76.500 276
rani ethnicity with the share of 8% (41.040 in-
Suhareka/Suvareka 81.000 361
dividuals), ethnic Turks with 1,8% share (9.234
Mamusha/Mamuša 5.500 12
individuals), ethnic Roma-Ashkali-Egyptian
community with 1,3% (6.669 individuals) and Total for Region South 513.000 2.031
ethnic Serbs with 0,4% (2.052 individuals) % of total for Kosovo 24% 18.66%
share of the population.

10
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Population, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market 2.2

CHART 1:
Average size of households and number of children
per municipalities
Average size of households
10.0

7.5
Average number
of children
5.0

2.5

Malisheva
/Mališevo

Prizren
Malisheva
/Mališevo

Prizren

Dragash
/Dragaš
Dragash
/Dragaš

/Orahovac
Rahovec
/Orahovac
Rahovec

Suhareka
/Suvareka
Suhareka
/Suvareka
South in 2004 was 35.063 where 18.213 or 51,9%
of the newborns were males and 16.850 or CHART 2:
Average size of households and number of children
48,1% of the newborns were females.
The average life expectancy in the Econom- Average size
of households
ic Region South in 2004 was about 61 years. 8
There are significant differences (of 20 years)
between municipalities of the region in terms
of life expectancy. They figures vary from 6
about 50 years for Municipality of Malisheva/ Average number
Mališevo, up to 70 years in the Municipality of of children
4
Dragash/Dragaš. In Prizren Municipality the
average life expectancy is 65 years, in Ra-
hovec/Orahovac Municipality 61 years, while 2
in Suhareka/Suvareka municipality an aver-
age of 60 years. There are no data the newest
Municipality of Mamusha/Mamuša. The sig- 0
Average for Average Average for Average
nificant differences can be attributed to such Region South for Kosovo Region South for Kosovo
environmental factors as the quality of water

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

and air, to historical factors and to the differ- age group in the 22-24% range. It needs to be
ences in the quality of living conditions in pointed out, however, that in the absence of
general. the hard data from the population census, the
According to a major internationally spon- data above is quoted after the study men-
sored research ”The demographic, social and tioned. The data reflect the conditions pre-
reproductive situation in Kosovo” in 2003, vailing in 2003 and their reliability is also un-
people aged up to 24 years of age constituted known.
some 53% of the total number of residents. In As a result of the latest war and ethnic con-
the Region South the average share of the flicts, the population of the Region under-
young population in the 15-29 years bracket went during the most recent decade and a
has been 27,7%. The highest percentage share half some significant demographic and eth-
of young population has been in the Munici- nic changes. The development opportunity of
pality of Dragash/Dragaš (32,3%). The lowest the Region is to emerge from these changes
share has been in the Municipality of Ra- with the stronger society that is build on the
hovec/Orahovac (only 14%) which may be an foundation of mutual tolerance and coopera-
indication that a large number of young peo- tion, particularly in the areas related to eco-
ple leave the municipality to pursue educa- nomic development. The population age
tion-related opportunities elsewhere. Inter- structure and overall growth over time is cer-
estingly, only Rahovec/Orahovac Municipality tainly an economic asset of the region but, at
had 63% of the population in the 30-49 year the same time, it is also compounding chal-
age group as compared to all other municipal- lenges the region will face in the areas of edu-
ities in the region that had a share of the same cation and employment generation.

11
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.2 Population, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market

Human Resources TABLE 2:

Unemployment by level of qualification
and Labour Market Qualifications level Registered %
Human resources available in the region are Unemployed
characterized by a relatively broad range of Unqualified 40.134 60%
skills. This is in part due to a historical factor
Semi-qualified 2.676 4%
where a fair number of industries represented
Qualified 6.020 9%
by now defunct SOEs that have been present
in the region. While most of the SOEs have Secondary Education 16.722 25%
been liquidated and some of them spun off Higher Education (min.
669 1%
and underwent deep restructuring, most of two years post secondary)
the previous workforce in the middle age University Education 669 1%
bracket possesses skills that are not fully uti-
lized or are unlikely to be utilized. TABLE 3:
The second significant factor contributing Unemployment by age
to the wide range of skills of the workforce is Age Registered %
the system of vocational training. As an ex- unemployed
ample, educational institutions of the region 15-24 20.200 30.2%
during the school year of 2007/2008 have of- 25-39 29.500 44.1%
fered following ten areas of vocational train- 40-54 13.043 19.5%
ing:
55-64 4.147 6.2%
• Machinery and metal processing
• Electro-technical
• Building Construction TABLE 4:
• Traffic Unemployment by ethnicity
• Apparel and Leather Ethnicity Registered %
• Chemistry, Graphics unemployed
• Trade and Tourism Albanian 60.870 91%
• Economics and Legal Serb 1.376 2%
• Medicine
Other minorities 4.644 7%
• Arts
Due to the age structure (large share of the
younger population segment), on the average
there is good knowledge of ICT and graphic
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

design. This is a competitive advantage of the The latest data for Region South cover the
local work force which increases the attrac- first quarter of 2009 and show 66.890 unem-
tiveness of the region to foreign investors, ployed people. The official publication of
particularly in the services sector. MLSW corroborates the figure of 57.890 unem-
ployed, with additional 9.000 unemployed
from Malisheva Municipality are erroneously
Unemployment attributed to Region West instead of being in-
cluded in the Region South figure. As expect-
Structure ed, the data in Table 2 illustrate that there is a
The cumulative number of unemployed regis- strong correlation between unemployment
tered at the public employment services for and the level of qualifications.
the entire Kosovo until the end of 2008 has As far as the age average is concerned, the
been 334.595 people. The data for 2008 illus- vast majority of unemployed in the cumula-
trates an average annual increase of unem- tive figures refers to the age of 25-30 year-olds.
ployment figure of 0,4% which is significant- As in the previous years, the highest pressure
ly lower as compared to the increase of annual in terms of unemployment is still among the
unemployment rate in 2007 and still much youngest group of the age, which is illustrat-
lower than the results from the preceding ed by the increase in registrations (+3%) and
years. The most recent data related to unem- the entry rate into the group of unemployed.
ployment in Kosovo in May 2009 peg the un- In general, the unemployment rate in the
employed population figure at 338.618 unem- Region remains high with nearly 67.000 peo-
ployed individuals, where 47.2% were females. ple without a job. The unemployment growth

12
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Population, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market 2.2

rate, however, shows a declining trend over

the past several years. This may be due to the
fact that a younger and better educated seg-
ment of the population is entering the work-
force. In general, younger people have better
qualifications in the computer and technolo-
gy-related fields and may be more attractive to
employers in both, the service and the manu-
facturing sectors. Nevertheless, the unem-
ployment pressures are highest in the young-
er age brackets.

Employment
During 2008 the public sector in all of Kosovo
has created 6.937 new job opportunities. This
is an increase of more than 6% over the previ-
ous year. Precise data related to the Economic
Region South are not available; however,
there appear to be significant differences in
numbers of new job opportunities offered by Incomes per region
the public sector among the region’s six mu- The highest average of wages in Kosovo in
nicipalities. Municipality of Prizren has cre- 2008 have been reported for the Economic Re-
ated the highest number of jobs in the public gion Centre (262€ per month) and followed by
sector. The major factors responsible for the the Economic Region South (254€ per month).
disparity include the degree of urbanization Much lower average wages have been paid in
and the level of public services offered. Regions East and West. Employees of these ar-
In terms of employment, the public sector eas, however, enjoyed a much higher than av-
of the region is still the largest single employ- erage annual wage increases.
er and the annual job growth rate of this sec- The average of monthly income in the Re-
tor is about 8%. The structure of job opportu- gion South reported for 2008 was 254€, which
nities offered by the private sector remains is an increase of 53% in comparison to 2002.
largely unchanged over the past several years, However, the income growth over the last sev-
with 64% of jobs offered by the service sub-sec- eral years is much slower than the average

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

tor, followed by 19% of jobs offered by manu- growth rate for the entire Kosovo. This could
facturing sub-sector and 17% offered in agri- be seen as a warning sign of stagnation in the
culture. region’s level of business activity.
In general, by comparing employment and
unemployment figures, it is evident that Eco-
nomic Region South is characterized by a re-
markably high degree of unemployment in all
municipalities of the region.

TABLE 5:
Monthly income by region in Kosovo (euro)
Region 2002 2004 2006 2008 Growth (2006-2008)

R. East 166 165 222 241 5.7%

R. North 166 206 231 247 4.2%
R. West 205 212 223 243 6.6%
R. Centre 202 209 256 262 1.2%
R. South 166 199 242 254 2.8%

13
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.3 Economy: Infrastructure and Business Environment

2.3 Economy:
Infrastructure and
Business Environment
Road network
Region South is characterized by a developed
network of local, regional and main roads,
but the majority of them are in relatively poor
condition. One of the most important goals
for Kosovo in terms of transport development
is providing the linkage with the Pan-Europe-
an road corridors. Economic Region South is
currently not linked to any of the corridors of
the Trans-European Network (TEN). Within
the medium term time horizon of the current
strategy the region will be connected to the
E10 corridor through the highway Durrës –
Prizren – Prishtinë/Priština - Merdare. The
highway construction is close to completion
on the Albanian side (with the exception of
the tunnel that needs to be upgraded to ac-
commodate 2-way traffic) and currently the
highway stretches up to the village of Vermica
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

in the Municipality of Prizren. The freeway nicipalities) and have a total length of about Road from
construction will continue on the Kosovo side 6000 km. In the Region South there are Prizren to
Pristina.
up until Merdare (on the Kosovo – Serbia bor- around 1200 km of local roads. More than 50%
der), passing through the outskirts of the City of them or 633 km are asphalted. Inter-region-
of Prizren, as well as municipalities of Su- al links of road network are in average condi-
hareka/Suvareka and Malisheva/Mališevo. tion. They are mostly characterized by heavy
Preparatory work is underway on the Kosovo traffic at the entrances and exits of the cities
side. It is certain that the construction of the and towns. In some cities of the Region South,
highway will considerably increase the pros- such as in Suhareka/Suvareka, Rahovec/Ora-
pects of the region, i.e. the highway itself hovac and Malisheva/Mališevo, there are no
will offer a great number of development op- transit roads and the entire traffic is being
portunities by integrating the region in the routed through the town. In concluding, the
European road network in an adequate way. existing condition of the local road network in
In Kosovo, the roads are classified as high- the Region South can be characterized as rela-
ways or national roads, regional roads and lo- tively good – particularly due to the fact that
cal roads. National and regional roads are most of the local roads are already paved with
within the competences of the Ministry of asphalt and have proper access to the regional
Transport and road network of Kosovo. The technical condi-
Post-Telecommunications and are ranked tion of the road network can be characterized
high in terms of importance. Local roads, as one that is in need of continuous improve-
which are the lowest in the ranking, are with- ment and maintenance.
in the competences of local governments (mu-

14
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Economy: Infrastructure and Business Environment 2.3

Prishtina International Airport also handles

Railway network the air cargo. The data related to the volume of
Similarly to most of Kosovo regions, lack of op- cargo handled by the airport is not readily
erational railway system makes it impossible available but it provides services to some glob-
to use the railway transport, which is seen as al companies such as FEDEX, UPS, TNT, DHL,
an obstacle for the regional development. In AES Cargo & Move One.
the Economic Region South there is only one As Kosovo is landlocked and has no direct ac-
potential railway connection with the Kosovo cess to the sea, the only access to the seaports
railway network. This is the line that used to of Durrës and Shengjini is through the newly
run from Prizren through Xërxë and Klinë/Kli- constructed highway Morina – Kukës – Durrës.
na to Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje. It was com- Closest logistic centres for transporting of
pleted in 1963 and had a total length of 58,43 goods of the Region South are at the Prishti-
km. Both, the line itself and the terminal in na/Priština Airport, at the port of Durrës and
Prizren are currently dysfunctional. As a result at the railway terminal in Fushë Kosovë/Koso-
of the lack of investment in maintenance, the vo Polje.
technical condition is currently quite margin-
al. Railroad infrastructure is practically non-
existent. The rails are damaged by unauthor- Environmental
ized crossing points, there is a lot of illegal
construction in the railway belt and there are infrastructure
piles of garbage accumulated on the tracks. Water supply and sewage management in
There are no viable plans to address this weak- Economic Region South are provided by a pub-
ness in the short- or medium-term. lic company “Hidroregjioni Jugor”. The level
The main inter-regional railway knot in Kos- of services is classified by the Water and Waste
ovo is the Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje facility Regulatory Office as lower than average for
which provides connections with Skopje and Kosovo. Water supply network covers some
Belgrade. The Prizren-Xerxe-Fushe Kosovo/Ko- 49% of the territory of the Region and sewage
sovo Polje connection has deteriorated to such network about 44% of the territory (as com-
an extent that it may never be economically fea- pared to respectively 70% and 50% for Kosovo).
sible to reconstruct it. Service provision is mostly concentrated in ur-
Lack of investment in the Prizren – Fushë Ko- banized areas. Lack of resources is seen as an
sovë/Kosovo Polje railway line is seen as a sig- obstacle to further development of the net-
nificant impediment to the development of the works. The sector cannot achieve profitability
Region South. It creates an additional pressure as pricing is controlled publicly and reflects a
to speed up the highway construction on Koso- state social policy and in addition, there are

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

vo side. Without access to convenient transport collection problems. Currently there are no
corridors the sustainable development of the plans to treat the sewage in the entire region.
region would be seriously hampered. Sewage represents a serious environmental
problem in the Region and possibly contami-
nates water. While Kosovo does have a basic
Access to ports set of environmental laws and standards,
their enforcement is still very weak.
and airports Solid waste management is provided by a
Convenient access to seaports and airports has public company “Ekoregjioni”. It provides ser-
a direct impact on business development, as it vices to some 39% of the Region’s area which is
influences the transportation costs and access an average for Kosovo but still regarded as
of goods to international and regional mar- highly insufficient by European standards.
kets. Kosovo currently has only one interna- There are currently no programs in place in
tional civil airport in Slatina near Prishtinë/ the Region South to sort solid waste, to collect
Priština as well as another one for KFOR mili- sorted waste nor to process it (or eventually re-
tary needs - near Gjakovë/Ðakovica. cycle). There are also no major efforts to raise
Prishtina International Airport services on the environmental awareness of the popula-
average of 20 flights per day and the number tion. Addressing effectively the environmen-
is steadily increasing. In 2008, for the first tal issues seems to be a very urgent matter as
time the number of civilian passengers has it affects the quality of life in the Region and
reached 1.137.000 passengers and, in addi- hurts Region’s aspirations to strongly develop
tion, the military personnel of 100 thousand. the tourism sector.

15
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.3 Economy: Infrastructure and Business Environment

for production or heating purposes. Access to

LPG is handled through the petrol sales points.

Telecommunication
infrastructure
is an important factor for the development of
any region. There are two main operators of
telecommunication – the PTK (with landlines
and Vala mobile services) and IPKO (a private
operator concentrating on mobile services.
The coverage of the two mobile operators
jointly reaches 90% of the territory of the Re-
gion South. Landline systems are also well de-
veloped. Licensed internet services via ADSL
are offered by PTK while two private operators
(IPKO and Kujtesa) offer their internet access
Hydropower
plants of Energy infrastructure services primarily through cable modem tech-
nology and wireless networks operating in an
Dikanci in
Dragash/ and supply unlicensed 2.4 GHz band. The infrastructure
Dragaš. Over 87% of electric power consumption in for telecommunication is generally in good
Kosovo is covered by local generation capacity condition, particularly that operated by PTK
of the Obiliq/Obilić Power Plant and about which has a policy of purchasing up to date
13% is imported. Currently the network of equipment.
electricity supply is spread throughout the Re-
gion South and covers 99.5% of its territory.
Energy infrastructure in terms of electric Industrial
power is good throughout the region (with
99.5% coverage) but the supply is insufficient infrastructure
and irregular. It depends partly on the catego- in the region is considered to be poor. Only one
rization system based on bill payment adopt- municipality has a well defined and conveni-
ed by KEK and partly on the technical prob- ently located industrial zone under develop-
lems (breakdowns) experienced by the Obiliq/ ment (160 ha in Suhareka/Suvareka Munici-
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

Obilić electric power plant and the power dis- pality) which has been established by
tribution network. The technical condition of municipality and is currently supported by the
the network is in need of improvement. local Business Support Centre. There is anoth-
The Region has potential to take advantage er small industrial zone (approximately 30-35
of renewable energy sources, particularly in ha) under development in Prizren Municipali-
the form of hydro energy. The two existing ty. This one has been created as an initiative of
hydropower plants of Dikanci in Dragash/ private foreign investors and is conveniently
Dragaš (with a capacity of 2200 kW) and the located near the future highway. Other mu-
one near Prizren (with a capacity of 1500 kW - nicipalities which are planning to establish in-
currently under feasibility study conducted by dustrial zones have suitable land and some
the Ministry of Energy and Mining) need sig- buildings which are suitable for industrial
nificant investment and rehabilitation. There purposes, but often times they are scattered all
is also a ready project for the construction of a over the area, often partially destroyed, un-
new larger hydropower plant in Zhur (near used or poorly maintained. In most munici-
the border with Albania) with a capacity of palities there are yet no finally defined zones
around 300 MW which is yet to receive fund- or zoning standards. In order to maximize the
ing. Finalizing all three projects related to hy- use of land under municipal control, it is im-
dro energy would be a positive factor boosting portant to evaluate, design and establish such
the development potential as well as contrib- urban zones to appropriate standards.
uting to limiting pollution.
There is no network (pipe system) in place to
supply the industry and households with gas

16
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Economy: Production and Service Sectors 2.4

2.4 Economy: Production

and Service Sectors
which provide financial and technical assis-
General Comments tance. Regional economy suffers from exces-
Over the past few years Kosovo’s economy has sive and unnecessary reliance on imported
shown significant progress in transitioning goods, which could easily be substituted by
to a market-based system and maintaining domestic production.
macroeconomic stability, but it is still highly Transition to the market driven economy
dependent on the international community has essentially been completed with the pri-
and the Diaspora for financial and technical vatization process largely finalized and the
assistance. Economic growth is largely driven economy is currently driven by the private sec-
by the private sector, mostly small-scale retail tor. The privatization of the socially-owned
businesses. The official currency of Kosovo is enterprises (SOEs) brought significant reve-
the Euro. Kosovo has so far maintained a nue to Kosovo’s treasury but new investors
budget surplus as a result of efficient value still have not been successful in creating via-
added tax (VAT) collection at the borders and ble local industries with a notable exception
less than efficient budget execution. In order of the region’s wine industry. Many of the
to help integrate Kosovo into regional eco- other privatized enterprises have downsized,
nomic structures, United Nations Mission in continued to struggle and are far from reach-
Kosovo (UNMIK) signed (on behalf of Kosovo) ing pre-conflict production levels.
its accession to the Central European Free
Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 2006.
In December 2008, Kosovo was designated as Structure and
a beneficiary country under the Generalized
System of Preferences (GSP) program. Under
profitability of the
this program, a wide range of products Kosovo business sector
might seek to export are eligible for duty-free According to the Statistical Office of Kosovo,
entry to the United States. Current Kosovo ex- by the end of 2008, there were some 12,000

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

ports that are eligible for GSP benefits include businesses registered in the Economic Region
wood products, charcoal, and dried fruits. South and that number continues to grow.
Other main exports include mineral products, The attrition rate (companies going out of
base metals, leather products, machinery, business) over the past several years has been
and appliances. Kosovo’s main export part- at the level of about 8% and it has been more
ners are Italy, Albania, FYR of Macedonia, and than compensated by a new start-up rate.
Greece. Imports include live animals and ani- Comparing the number of registered busi-
mal products, fruits and vegetables and relat- nesses with the numbers related to the em-
ed products, minerals, base materials, ma- ployment they generate leads to the conclu-
chinery, appliances and electrical equipment, sion that, within the private sector, economic
textiles and related products, wood and wood growth of the Region is largely driven by the
products, stone, ceramic and glass products, Small and Medium –sized Enterprises (SME’s)
and chemical products. The country’s main rather than by the small number of larger
import partners are the EU, FYR of Macedonia, businesses.
Serbia, Turkey, and Albania. Financial data related to the state of the re-
Regional economy, similarly to the rest of gional economy and profitability of business
Kosovo, is relatively stable but stagnating. As operations tend to be fragmentary and are the
a result of this trend and the stability provid- least reliable for a variety of reasons including
ed by the Euro currency, the inflationary pres- local business culture. Consequently, the ana-
sures are very low. Significant international lytical comments made in this section are not
trade deficits are being balanced by the Dias- always backed by a consistent set of data cov-
pora and by the international community ering all the municipalities of the region. Ad-

17
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.4 Economy: Production and Service Sectors

CHART 3: Distribution of registered businesses in ed €1.8 billion in goods and services and ex-
the Southern Region by sectors ported only €186 million, resulting in a trade
deficit of approximately 45% of Kosovo’s GDP.
● Wholesale and retail 11%
trade, repair of motor This deficit is largely financed through for-
vehicles
● Processing Industry 12% 9% eign assistance and remittances from Koso-
● Hotels and Restaurants vo’s Diaspora. Kosovo’s leading industries are
● Transport, depots and
communication mining, energy, and telecommunications.
● Construction
● Other social and 5% None of these industries have any significant
personal activities
● Real estate, renting and facilities located in the Region South.
business activities However, over the past several years the in-
● Health 5%
● Agriculture, Hunting dustrial sector of the regional economy shows
and Forestry
● Education moderate progress. A number of new compa-
● Other
3%
nies have been established and started operat-
2% ing in a variety of sectors including food pro-
2%
1% cessing, metal processing and plastic (PVC)
1%
products. New industrial companies are based
on local initiative or a foreign investment.
49% One such company, the Zinkunie Company,
established by the Dutch is a prime example
of a joint venturing between a Diaspora entre-
equate disaggregation of the national eco- preneur and a foreign investor. Zinkunie is a
nomic statistics is not readily available. company specialised in processing of zinc,
However, many of the observations related to copper and lead. This company is also in a pro-
certain aspects of regional economics appear cess of setting up an industrial park on the
to be symptomatic and valid enough to be pre- outskirts of Prizren for foreign investors. Mu-
sented here. nicipal plans in creating other municipal/re-
The sectoral distribution of registered busi- gional industrial/business parks are largely
nesses in Region South shows heavy depend- behind the schedule.
ence of the economy on the service sector. Al- Other examples include:
most half of registered businesses (49%) are in • Abi & Elif 19 - a Prizren based company, also
the wholesale and the retail commerce com- known by its brand name Progress. Abi &
bined with the automobile trade and auto ser- Elif 19 is a processor of fruits and vegetable
vice sector. Some 11% of businesses are in the products i.e. marmalade, jams and jellies,
tourism and hospitality services (hotels, res- ketchup, peppers, cucumbers, green beans
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

taurants etc.) followed by transport (9%). Only and other products.

12% of businesses are involved in processing • Sillosi Company in Xrëxë – Rahovec/Oraho-
(including food industry) and further 5% in vac Municipality produces baking flour and
construction. Only 5% of registered business- pasta. It has one of the biggest production
es are active in the agricultural sector. lines in Kosovo.
• Companies Clirimi and Pista-Ekoplast have
a wide-range of PVC products. The plastic
Industrial Sector processing industry is located in Rahovec/
The privatization of Kosovo’s socially-owned Orahovac Municipality
enterprises (SOE’s) conducted with the inter-
national assistance, has generated around
€385.5 million since the year 2004. According Agriculture
to the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, during Southern Region is the main producer of high
this period, over 9,000 local and foreign in- quality agricultural products in Kosovo. Vege-
vestors have at least at one point in time ex- tables grown in this part of the country are also
pressed interest in the privatization process. well known and exported to surrounding coun-
While Kosovo has been laying the foundations tries, i.e. peppers from Krusha area, tomatoes
of a market-oriented economy for the past from Mamusha/Mamuša etc. Other vegeta-
nine years it is still struggling to develop via- bles, like cabbage, cucumbers and carrots are
ble and productive domestic industries. Koso- cultivated successfully in this region as well.
vo has one of the lowest export/import rates Krusha area is also known for growing water-
in the Balkan region. In 2008, Kosovo import- melons. Dragash/Dragaš region is rich with

18
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Economy: Production and Service Sectors 2.4

TABLE 6: Area of land by type

Prizren Dragash/ Suhareka/ Rahovec/ Malisheva/ Mamusha/ Total (Ha)
Dragaš Suvareka Orahovac Mališevo Mamuša
Natural parts
Uncultivated land 4,177 264 12,024 673 200 17,338
Forests 24,977 7,326 2,923 9,236 16,392 60,854
Total 29,154 7,590 14,947 9,909 16,592 78,192
Agricultural land
Arable land 20,684 8,793 9,449 15,460 11,249 811 66,446
Pastures 14,128 27,142 11,703 5,941 2,745 283 61,942
Total 34,812 35,935 21,152 21,401 13,994 1,094 128,388

medicinal and aromatic herbs, as well as preferred, when starting a new business.
known for a variety of berries. More than 90 % While dominant from the point of view of
of herbs are exported to western countries. sheer size, number of businesses as well as
Typical for this region is viticulture and it jobs, this sector is relatively fragmented and
deserves a separate mention. It is dominant typically associated with lower than average
in Rahovec/Orahovac, but also widespread in profitability. The service sector of the regional
Municipalities of Suhareka/Suvareka and economy is not technology-based. It is domi-
Prizren. Good soils combined with favourable nated by such low-tech areas as retail and
climate conditions create significant poten- wholesale trade, car service workshops, tire
tial for further development of the grape and shops, petrol stations and numerous little cof-
wine production. Development of the sector fee shops or food establishments. The oppor-
should be linked with vineyard renovation tunities for further development are associat-
and improvement as well as better linkages ed with technology-based services (compatible
between grape producers and winemakers or with the young workforce of the region) and
retail markets. with the tourism industry.
The agricultural land represents approxi- The Economic Region South is still has se-
mately 61% of the total area of the Southern verely underutilized potential in tourism-re-
Region and offers a great potential for further lated services. This relates not only to the
development. Over 65% of the working popu- Municipality of Prizren, but also various ways
lation resident within Kosovo is employed to all other municipalities of the Region. In

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

within the agricultural sector. There is signif- spite of abundant natural resources attractive
icant potential for developing higher value for tourism purposes as well as rich cultural
products as well as these that are grown in an and historical heritage, the tourism industry
organic manner. Efforts to create properly de- still has to become a major development driv-
veloped distribution chains (from farmers er. The development of the sector until now
through collection facilities to the markets) has been addressed in a fragmentary fashion
need to be undertaken as one of the priorities. and has not increased in a major way the in-
Many of the regional agricultural products comes of a very large population segment in-
have a significant export potential. Formerly volved in tourism related service provision.
a net exporter of foodstuffs, Kosovo as a whole Tourism needs to be developed in a complex
now has a negative trade balance in this sec- manner where the issues related to tourism
tor. This points out to the opportunities for base (including human resource develop-
significant import substitution based on this ment); the tourism product development
regions production. (such as family winter sport packages, wine
tours, bird watching etc.) and marketing/in-
formation/communication are seen as a sys-
Service Sector tem or interrelationships.
Service sector (trade, hotel, cafes and restau-
rants, transport and telecommunication and
other services) represent 81% of the total num-
ber of registered enterprises. For the last 5
years, this sector continues to be the most

19
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.5 Summary conclusions

2.5 Summary conclusions

I
n general, the conclusion should be that ness of privately owned companies and gen-
the region still has untapped reserves in eral business climate as well as giving support
economic development. The number of for strengthening the SME sector. These
successful and profitable companies is still would become some of the main drivers of
relatively small. Many smaller start-ups success for all industrial activity in the re-
lack the expertise on how to develop their gion. Encouraging the citizens of Kosovo, the
business in a proper manner, to match their Diaspora members and foreign investors to in-
entrepreneurial drive. Skilled resources and vest in these sectors, improving the local
support delivery systems for the start-ups are knowledge on how to run businesses and
still largely missing and consequently execute building appropriate institutions (infrastruc-
their ideas without conducting prior market ture) that will support entrepreneurs to start
studies, evaluations or putting together solid new businesses and enhance the technologi-
business plans, without securing adequate cal capacity of existing ones are some of the
funding and without proper training. The ways to improve the entire economy of the re-
number of business support institutions is gion. Proper support should also be developed
very small and consequently there is a lack of to meet the entrepreneurial aspirations of the
training and business education centres, youth as well as significantly improving busi-
business incubators and consultancy compa- ness opportunities for the women.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

nies to provide support to businesses. With- Development of tourism could become a sig-
out this type of infrastructure, the business nificant source of wellbeing for a growing
potential of the region cannot be fulfilled. part of the region’s population. The region
The future construction of the cross-Balkan has a vast tourism potential which still re-
highway running through the Region South mains relatively untapped. Suitable regional
will create numerous opportunities for the re- geographic position and rich natural basis,
gion in medium term horizon. The strategy numerous cultural and historic buildings, as
should therefore focus on the issue of employ- well as folklore are main basis for develop-
ment by developing a variety of initiatives to ment of tourism in Southern Region. There is
encourage people to be more proactive (sup- potential for sustainable development of tran-
porting SME start-ups) and more business- sit, mountain and winter tourism and camp-
oriented, building an appropriate entrepre- ing for weekends. Within Sharri Mountains
neurial and business infrastructure as well as reaching the height of up to 2750 m there are
all other types of infrastructure. At the same 16 pristine mountain lakes. Major part of this
time, all the business opportunities in the ar- zone belongs to the National park and the area
eas of industry, agriculture and tourism is under the protection for the purposes of
should be developed in a responsible way – tourism development. Sharri Mountains have
with the goal of improving the quality of envi- hundreds of meters of skiing areas which are
ronment and preserving the bio-diversity. not properly developed, but they present big
Regarding industry, the focus should be potential for development of winter tourism.
placed on completing the privatization of Mountains of Koritnik and Pashtrik in Dra-
larger enterprises, improving competitive- gash/Dragaš Municipality also present poten-

20
 REGIONAL PROFILE 2
Summary conclusions 2.5

tial for development of mountain tourism,

such is hiking and hunting. Numerous rivers
in the region offer possibility of development
of water sports and fishing.
The natural resources related to tourism still
need to be developed into specific products.
The development should also address the is-
sues of the tourism base (both in terms of ho-
tels, restaurants etc. as well as qualified hu-
man resources). Taking full advantage of that
potential, however, will not be possible with-
out improvements in quality of the environ-
ment. Issues related to the provision of im-
proved public services (sewage, solid waste
etc.) combined with environment protection
improvements (environmental awareness, re-
cycling etc.) constitute a crosscutting theme,
which in the long run influences the sustain-
ability of all development efforts. potential of reversing the current trend and re-
With a very good climate with Mediterrane- establishing agriculture as a major economic
an influence, which characterizes southern development driver of the region.
region, with 61% of agriculture land, from The overall conclusion applicable to each of
which 52% is good quality arable land, espe- the sectors of regional economy of the Eco-
cially in Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovac and Su- nomic Region South is that they have not de-
hareka/Suvareka, with good irrigation sys- veloped in any systematic, consistent or inte-
tem in place, this region offers a great grated way. While the region has all potential
opportunity for agricultural production and elements needed for future success, there is
processing of agricultural and horticultural vast space for improvement that a Regional
products. Many agricultural products (includ- Economic Development Strategy with a sound
ing wine) can be certified as organic, because delivery plan and a resulting implementation
of the use of natural technology and lack of in- of programs can fill.
dustrial pollution. Considerable areas of pas- The preliminary analysis of the region leads
tures in Dragash/Dragaš and Malisheva/ to a conclusion that Southern Economic Re-
Mališevo also are important assets for devel- gion shares many problem areas with the rest

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

opment of livestock industry for the region, of Kosovo. In particular, this relates to high
with a good infrastructure and road network levels of current unemployment, growing
of the region, offering possibilities of enter- pressures on the job market related to demo-
ing the local products into regional and broad- graphics (young population), development
er markets. level disparities between the urban and rural
Agriculture and food processing industry areas, scattered local initiatives with lower
should advance by boosting agricultural pro- than expected overall development impact,
duction, optimizing the use of land, improv- unsatisfactory level of social services (health-
ing the quality of agricultural production care, education etc.) offered to the popula-
through the use of agro-technology as well as tion. Region South also has a number of
traditional and ecological values. This, in com- unique characteristics which include high po-
bination of improved access to agro-markets, tential for developing of tourism linked to nu-
could be a foundation for balanced economic merous attractive resources related to tour-
development of the rural areas and agro-tour- ism; high potential for development of
ism. Kosovo, and in particular the Economic diversified, modern and efficient agriculture
Region South, has been known in the pre-con- and food processing industry, particularly
flict period as a significant net exporter of agri- linked to vineyards as well as quality fruit and
cultural products. Current balance of trade in vegetable crops; and finally unutilized poten-
foodstuffs is just the opposite. Supporting tial related to SME and industrial develop-
comprehensive development of agriculture by ment (both in production and in services). As
addressing its present shortcomings and un- pointed out earlier, these three areas are seen
derstanding all the interrelationships has a as major drivers for the region’s development.

21
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.6 Stakeholder views

2.6 Stakeholder views

Wide-spread Consultation Views on Development Issues
During the preliminary efforts to organize a Management Issues, including: “Lack of collab-
regional partnership of stakeholders for the oration/coordination”, “Lack of leadership/
development process, RDA South carried out a poor leadership” and “insufficient support on
series of stakeholder interviews to obtain the part of local governments”, are according to
views about the health of the regional econo- some stakeholder communities the main is-
my and how changes could or should be made sues facing the economic sectors in the Region
to industry development to improve the eco- South. These are followed by Labour Force Is-
nomic performance; and, to identify develop- sues, including “Lack of skilled labour”, “Em-
ment opportunities and initiatives which ployment/labour issues” and “Education needs
could stimulate growth and development of unmet”. Infrastructure, including “Electricity”
the Economic Region South’s economy in the and “Transport”, is also seen as an impediment
future. The stakeholder consultation has been to development both by production and service
undertaken in parallel streams with all main sectors. Labour and general Infrastructure is-
stakeholder groups. sues were seen, however, as challenges to be
Local Governments have been consulted to dealt with in a more of a longer term perspec-
gain their views on the future direction of the tive as opposed to the need to urgently deploy
regional economy, with particular emphasis quicker-impact sector oriented measures.
on publicly owned assets and their develop-
ment. Face-to-face interviews and discus- Implications
sions have been conducted with a range of key There is a strong desire by business and service
business, media and NGO stakeholders. sector interviewees to invest in the Region
Members of the CPWG are confident that South. They recognised that management and
those leaders consulted are representative and labour force issues are standing in the way of
their views authoritative. This process of con- significant investment and hence economic de-
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

sultation has identified any issues which velopment of the region and they need to be
stand in the way of development and will dealt with by the strategy. At the same time,
build consensus in addressing them. consultation revealed that many businesses
and economic oriented stakeholders were
Views on Development Opportunities aware of realistic development opportunities
There is a strong desire by production sector in- for the Southern Region’s economy. Many were
terviewees and service sector interviewees from taking independent initiatives to realise these
Economic Region South to see “Investment in opportunities and were positive as to the strate-
start-up projects”. All groups mentioned this as gic development role that REDS might have in
a development opportunity during the initial future. Interestingly, a significant number of
stakeholder consultation. There is also a com- stakeholders have also expressed the need for
mon belief amongst interviewees from the pro- increased leadership and coordination in eco-
duction and the service sectors that ER South nomic development at the regional scale.
has a strong competitive advantage with its re-
sources related to tourism and agriculture. In- Influence on Strategy Formulation
terviewees indicated that “Horticultural pro- The views of the stakeholders informed the
duction and processing” and “Tourism” are the RDA Team conducting the preliminary analy-
areas with the most development potential in sis of growth prospects and potential of the
the South Economic Region. southern regional economy. They also in-
formed the CPWG members in its formulation
of the Strategy goals, objectives and imple-
mentation initiatives.

22
 REGIONAL SWOT ANALYSIS 3

3. Regional
SWOT Analysis
A
n in-depth SWOT analysis is a pre- • a weakness (W) is an internal condition or
ferred analytical and strategic any internal deficit which endangers the
planning tool often used within competitive position of a region or hampers
the EU in a participatory planning the exploitation of opportunities,
approach. However, SWOT is only

2.
a tool in a planning process and it has to be aspects of the external
based on inputs and knowledge of the present environment described by
situation provided by the partners (CPWG existing threats and unexplored
members). The outputs of a SWOT analysis opportunities:
are well organized basic information, a com- • an opportunity (O) is any external circum-
mon understanding of reality and a set of stance or characteristic which favours the
common strategic options. region or where the region is enjoying a
The two main components of the SWOT are: competitive advantage,
• a threat (T) is a challenge of an unfavourable

1.
aspects of the internal situation trend or of an external circumstance which
described by existing strengths will unfavourably influence the position of
and weaknesses: the region.
• a strength (S) is defined as any internal asset
of know-how, technology, motivation and The table on the following pages provides the
entrepreneurial spirit, finance, business refined inventory of SWOT arrived at as a re-
links, etc... which can help to exploit op- sult of discussions of the CPWG and TWGs
portunities and to fight off threats, members.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

23
 3 REGIONAL SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Weaknesses
S1. Favourable position of the south region (traffic, W1. Long - term unemployment, significant
geographic location at the crossroads of imbalance of economic structure and inability
highway Prishtina – Durres which is becoming to transfer labour force among sectors,
increasingly important).
W2. Lack of consistent and balanced development
S2. Resources related to natural environment, strategy,
agricultural arable land, abundant water
W3. Institutions of local government inadequately
supplies, forest wealth.
prepared for supporting entrepreneurial
S3. Relatively educated workforce by competitive activities
rates
W4. Railway system non-functional
S4. Rich historical and cultural heritage monuments
W5. Insufficient coordination between educational
registered and protected.
institutions and the regional development
S5. Possibilities for further development of tourism needs, and inadequate education with market
(winter, cultural, mountain, eco tourism, agro- requirements
tourism)
W6. Farmland inadequately used (mostly small
S6. Industrial and craftsmanship tradition plots owned by each individual)
S7. Local production, particularly agriculture, W7. Inadequate treatment and disposal of waste
lends itself to import substitution and export waters and solid waste
development
W8. Low level of production of agricultural
S8. Favourable agro-climate conditions and high commodities and underdeveloped food
potential for few sectors of agriculture processing
(Horticulture, viticulture, dairy)
W9. Lack of strategy for the exploitation of
S9. Appropriate regional infrastructure all over the agricultural resources
region
W10. Privatization of agricultural land has not yet
S10. Significant and growing role of SMEs been completed
S11. Hospitality of local people W11. Inadequate ties of small and medium- sized
businesses with larger business systems, and
S12. Good transport accessibility with important
retail chains with local production
transport routes
[Link] developed and insufficiently
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

S13. Agriculture products using natural resources

coordinated economic sectors
that can be certified
[Link] percentage of industries of low
S14. Availability of inexpensive labour force
technological level
S15. Good opportunities to develop local wine brands
[Link] rural infrastructure
S16. Development of traditional crafts for tourism
[Link] of strategy and incentives to draw
purposes
investments
[Link] level of skills in tourism related services
[Link] regional promotional strategy and activities
[Link] of tradition and good experience with
inter-municipal cooperation
[Link] of experience in public – private
development
[Link] access to credits

24
 REGIONAL SWOT ANALYSIS 3

Opportunities Threats
O1. Strategic geographic position; good road T1. Irregular supply with electric power, inadequate
connections, highway to Albania and sea ports, technical condition of power infrastructure
highway in Kosovo going through the Region
T2. Environmental degradation
South
T3. Air pollution, pollution of rivers
O2. Young population with good level of education
T4. Lack of development funds
O3. Availability of Grant Schemes from European
Commission and other international donors T5. Non-efficiency of courts and law enforcement
bodies
O4 Possibility to use renewable sources of energy
T6. Lack of financial support
O5. Irrigation system in most of the regional fields
appropriate for high quality production T7. Ineffective fiscal collection
O6. Diverse cultural heritage as an advantage for T9. Unfair competition – uncontrolled imports
development of tourism
T10. Underdeveloped physical infrastructure
O7. Attractive sites for construction of new
T11. Inadequate availability of funding for agriculture
recreational and sport facilities
T12. Lack of census
O8. Entrepreneurial spirit of local businessmen
T13. Uncontrolled migrations from rural to urban
O9. Existence of Diaspora with resources to invest
areas
in the region
T14. Lack of implementation of spatial planning
O10. Climate conditions very favourable for
cultivation of high quality crops T15. Enormous increase of the number of vehicles
O11. Development of new initiatives within the T16. Global crisis affecting exports and remittances
cross-border cooperation
T17. Youth leaving abroad
O12. High potential for development of ski centres
in Sharri mountain with ski slopes appropriate
for development of winter sports
O13. Development of Private Universities and
establishment of Public University in Prizren,
to support development activities

T
he SWOT analysis clearly showed a wide

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

O14. Natural park, reservations and protected zones range of weaknesses in the economic struc-
O15. Good conditions for livestock development and ture of the region and particularly in the
breeding (cattle and sheep) business support structure. But it was genu-
inely difficult to identify any one factor or
O16. Good market opportunities and export
set of factors as being more important than others.
possibilities taking into account free trade
However when considering strengths and opportuni-
under the CEFTA agreement
ties it was widely agreed that two sectors in particular
have both existing assets and the potential to be devel-
oped further: these are agriculture/food-processing
and tourism.

25
 4 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

4. Development
Strategy
B
efore embarking on the process of
formulating the strategy, the region-
al development partners agreed on a Economic Region South is an area where
set of principles and values that set the strategically planned sustainable
the overall context for the strategy.
The fundamental principles that are ex- development, cooperation and success-
pressed in the REDS of the Economic Region ful partnerships have led to increased
South are:
• Keep the number of priority areas limited to
competitiveness of the economy based
three to enable for a better focus of the stra- on the region’s strengths, created a fa-
tegic efforts on the issues that are drivers of vourable environment for investing and
the development of the region.
• Concentrate on economic development is- provided for the well-being of the citizen.
sues and regional competitiveness rather
than addressing a wider range of social is-
sues.
• Treat key social issues as cross-cutting is- As a result of preliminary analysis and in
sues that influence the sustainability of de- line with the adopted strategy principles, the
velopment and pervade the business envi- regional development partners selected three
ronment. These include the principle of Priorities that the Regional Economic Devel-
equal opportunities for disadvantaged opment Strategy is addressing. These priori-
groups (youth, women, ethnic minorities ties are seen as having the best potential for
and handicapped) as well as improved edu- leading the change in the region. They have
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

cation for workforce skill base. been identified as:

• Environmental issues are also of cross-cut- 1. Development of the Business Environment;
ting character. They have been considered 2. Development of agriculture and food
within the business environment area but processing industry; and
as a rule, they are taken into account across 3. Development of tourism.
the entire programming cycle.
• Creation of wealth. Strategic efforts are The last two priorities are of vertical or secto-
concentrated on jumpstarting the economy ral nature. While there is inevitably some
of the region or, in other words, on the re- overlap between all three, they still have the
sponsible creation of wealth and prosperity. benefit of being easily identifiable which con-
The primarily focus of the strategy, particu- tributes to the recognition of associated objec-
larly in early stages, is not on wealth redis- tives measures.
tribution.
Stakeholders in the development process of
the region perceive the regional vision to be a
statement of common interest and a commit-
ment to co-operate toward common, agreed
strategic priorities that are identified in the
strategy document. After working through
the regional profile, the socio-economic needs
analysis and the SWOT, the following clear vi-
sion statement has emerged:

26
 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 4
Priority 1

PRIORITY 1: Development
of the Business Environment

T
he overall goal of this Priority is to
create better business environment
in the region through improved
hard and soft business infrastruc-
ture and so increase: the competi-
tiveness of regional enterprises; the quality of
the workforce; and the environment.

MEASURE 1.1:
Support for improving conditions for
starting and conducting business in
the region.
Expected Result: Economic Region South has
6 municipal Business Support Centres which
are networked, specialized and offer high
quality services as well as at least two fully de-
veloped and managed industrial/economic
zones with adequate infrastructure.
Rationale: This measure has been identified MEASURE 1.3:
primarily through a combination of two Developing a competitive workforce
SWOT/SENA elements: the lack of proper in- with skills that match current and
frastructure for business development and future market needs through
the readiness of local government to support education, training and re-training
establishing of business support centres and Expected Result: Region’s job availability
industrial/economic zones as well as invest in grows as the workforce becomes more com-
their development. petitive, better trained through improved de-
livery systems (including training offered
MEASURE 1.2: through unemployment centres and new cur-

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

Increasing the competitiveness of ricula in secondary and tertiary education).
regional enterprises. Rationale: This measure has been primarily
Expected Result: Region’s enterprises become identified through a combination of SWOT/
more competitive in domestic and interna- SENA elements: lack of qualified work force
tional markets through innovation, develop- with appropriate skills as required by the labour
ment and support of regional brands, devel- market, lack of proper curricula for vocational
opment of value chains and improvement of education and training, low level of opportuni-
distribution systems (domestic and interna- ties for women, handicapped and youth.
tional trade).
Rationale: This measure has been identified
primarily through a combination of SWOT/
SENA elements: the low number of well devel-
oped regional brands, inadequate develop-
ment of value chain approach, insufficient
access and lack of good relationships with ex-
port markets, as well as some strengths like
presence in the region of high quality profes-
sionals in the areas of technology, advanced
design and marketing.

27
 4 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Priority 2

PRIORITY 2: Development of Agriculture

and Food Processing

T
he overall goal of this priority is to use
the region’s agricultural resources to
increase the employment level and
standard of living of the population
involved in agriculture in the region,
particularly in the non-urban areas.

MEASURE 2.1:
Increasing production of and storage
and processing capacities for fruits,
vegetables and berries
Expected Result: Increased production of veg-
etable and fruit as well as increased output of
processed fruit and vegetables, in particular,
increased outputs of viticulture and of wines
as well as growth and improvement of live-
stock.
Rationale: This Measure is identified through
a combination of the following SWOT/SENA
elements: current lack of proper land man-
agement, but availability of the land with
proper agro-climate conditions, the willing-
ness of the rural population to be engaged in MEASURE 2.3:
modern agribusiness, good experience in veg- Securing profitable markets for
etable production, viniculture and livestock. regional agriculture products.
Expected Result: Marketing tools are devel-
MEASURE 2.2: oped and offered to producers, capacities for
Improvement of production quality conducting market research are developed
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

of regional agro-businesses in the and available, packaging and distribution

medium term. channels (domestic and international) are de-
Expected Result: Quality of produced fruit, veloped.
vegetables as well as wines and processed Rationale: This Measure has been identified
foods increased through application of high through a combination of the following SWOT/
quality inputs, modern technologies and SENA elements: current lack of marketing tools
adoption of international standards (ISO and in regional agribusinesses, no research of new
HACCP) as well as certifying eco-products. market opportunities, need for establishment
Rationale: This Measure is identified primar- of advanced marketing agencies or cooperatives
ily through a combination of the following with marketing capabilities.
SWOT/SENA elements: lack of international
standards in regional agribusinesses (weak-
ness) and existence of certified local consult-
ants for development and implementation of
modern technologies and standards com-
bined with relatively low level of skills of peo-
ple involved in agriculture, but on the other
hand there is a continued presence of interna-
tional organizations and programmes provid-
ing technical assistance related to agricul-
ture.

28
 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 4
Priority 3

PHOTO: ARBEN LLAPASHTICA

PRIORITY 3: Development of tourism

O
verall Goal is the development of ties in tourism sector, as well as potential for
the region’s tourism sector through year-round tourism and recreation linked to
the use of tourism opportunities, skiing, hunting, mountaineering, hiking,
natural endowments, historical fishing, agro tourism etc.
and cultural monuments that this
region has, protected environment and biodi- MEASURE 3.2:
versity, always in function of economic develop- Highly enriching and diversifying the
ment and well-being of the residents. existing tourism offer (product
development for tourism).
MEASURE 3.1: Expected result: Development of innovative
Improving the existing tourism base tourism products for individual and group
(hard: hotels, restaurants, ski areas, tourism has taken place, recreational activi-
hiking paths etc. as well as soft: ties related to skiing and mountain tourism
capacity building of human resources are being offered. Tourism offer includes wine
involved in tourism through training routes combined with tasting, seasonal grape
and education). harvesting. Traditional sport events (classic
Expected result: Capacities of tourism-related wrestling contests, horse racing) are re-estab-
businesses (tourist agencies, transport organ- lished ad developed.
isations) are increased and improvement of Rationale: The Measure has been identified
hotel and restaurant services has taken place, through a combination of the following
the tourism base (hotels, restaurants and oth- SWOT/SENA elements: inadequate current
er facilities) has increased and is standardized tourism infrastructure as a weakness, and ac-
according to EU criteria. cess to donor assistance for tourism develop-
Rationale: This Measure has been identified ment as an opportunity, plus lack of incen-
primarily through a combination of the fol- tives for tourism investments as a weakness,
lowing SWOT/SENA elements: low level of and opportunity to increase level of tourism
training opportunities, growing demand in- entrepreneurship in order to create more
Old hamam
creases the employment and job opportuni- SMEs. in Prizren.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

29
 4 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Priority 3

MEASURE 3.3:
Providing improved information Rationale: This measure has been primarily
and promotion of tourism offer of identified through a combination of the fol-
the region (product marketing, lowing SWOT/SENA elements: poor image of
communication). Kosovo worldwide as a weakness in the re-
Expected result: Data on tourism base and gional SWOT analysis, and rich historical,
products collected and processed in the form cultural resources and hospitality of local peo-
of publications, marketing tools for the pro- ple as a strength, plus lack of tourist informa-
motion of tourism potential developed and tion in the municipalities as a threat as well
used, information (in the form of signpost- as potential to access donor assistance for
ing, producing and distributing publications tourism development as an opportunity.
etc.) provided.

AS A GENERAL COMMENT:
all of the above Measures taken together constitute a comprehensive set that the develop-
ment partners of the Economic Region South regard as necessary to move the region for-
ward in terms of sustainable economic development. They regard this set of measures as an
integrated blueprint for development of this region over at least the next 3 years and, most
likely, beyond.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

30
Contributors
to the Strategy
Mehmet Bytyqi, DEF - Prizren Municipality; Muhamet Spahiu, DEF - Suhareka Municipality;
Ahmet Bahtijari, DEF - Dragash Municipality; Vesel Krasniqi, DEF - Malisheva Municipality;
Hamez Rama, DEF - Rahovec Municipality; Yayha Mazreku, DEF - Mamusha Municipality;
Safet Dorambari, ABC Plast - Prizren; Raif Morina, Rizam Holding - Mamusha;
Halim Haxhijaha, Haxhijaha - Rahovec; Ilir Piraj, Meka - Dragash; Shefqet Kuqi, Solid - Suhareka;
Brahim Kryeziu, Maticom - Malisheva; Valon Hoti, Zinkunie - Prizren; Sadik Shporta, PTK;
Vehbi Sofiu, KEK; Zenel Zenelaj, Hidroregjioni Jugor; Shaban Veseli, Ecoregjioni;
Daut Krasniqi, Business Association - Malisheva ; Faik Miftari, Craftsmen Association - Prizren ;
Necat Morina, Farmers Association - Mamusha ; Fehim Rexhepi, Anadrini Association - Rahovec ;
Fadil Sylka, Craftsmen Association - Rahovec; Vesel Kryeziu, Graufi Association - Malisheva;
Halit Elshani, Business Support Centre - Suhareka; Naser Bresa, EKO - 99 Prizren ;
Mirat Morina, Youth Association - Mamusha ; Fitim Spahiu, Social Research Centre - Dragash;
Nderim Bytyqi, Youth Centre - Rahovec ; Mejtim Bytyqi, Felbach House - Suhareka;
Feride Hoxha, Handikos - Malisheva; Linda Kabashi, Vajzat Sot - Suhareka;
Rexhep Kuqi, Handikos - Regional Office ; Mifail Bytyqi, RTV Prizreni; Qazim Thaqi, TV Besa - Prizren;
Edona Vuciterna, Radio Start - Rahovec; Beqir Beqaj, Radio Sharri - Dragash;
Refki Reshitaj, Radio Theranda - Suhareke ; Ramce Kasi, Radio Omega - Prizren; Jakute Siceca, Prizren.

I Thematic Working Group for Business Environment

Faik Miftari, Craftsmen Association - Prizren; Shefqet Kuqi, Solid - Suhareka;
Fadil Sylka, Craftsman Association - Rahovec; Sedat Mazreku, Betoni - Mamusha;
Ilir Piraj, Meka - Dragash; Sadik Shporta, PTK; Safet Dorambari, ABC Plast - Prizren;
Sadik Paqarizi, Directorate of Urbanism - Prizren; Refki Reshitaj, Radio Theranda - Suhareka;
Nazli Tyfekqiu, Handikos - Prizren

II Thematic Working Group for Tourism

Mehmet Butuc, DEF - Prizren; Hamez Rama, DEF - Rahovec; Ahmet Bahtijari, DEF - Dragash;

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

Muhamet Spahiu, DEF - Suhareka; Naser Bresa, ECO - 99 Prizren; Mifail Bytyqi, RTV Prizreni;
Feride Hoxha, Handikos - Malisheva; Mirat Morina, Youth Association - Mamusha;
Bajram Basha, Municipal Official - Prizren

III Thematic Working Group for Agriculture

Halit Elshani, BSC - Suhareka; Necat Morina, Farmers Association; Shaban Veseli, Ecoregjioni;
Fehim Rexhepi, Association Anadrini - Rahovec; Vesel Kryeziu, Association Graufi - Malisheva;
Bedri Berisha, Directorate of Agriculture - Suhareka; Shaqir Kryeziu, Municipal Official - Suhareka;
Jakup Kastrati, Municipal Official - Prizren

31
 2 REGIONAL PROFILE
2.2 Population, human resources and the labor market
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTH

An EU funded project managed by the

European Commission Liaison Office

32