When the municipality delivers results, the state succeeds

At the offices of the KLGI Institute, the cooperation agreement for drafting the Draft Law on Local Government Finance was signed by the Minister of Finance, Avdullah Hoti, and the Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, Besnik Tahiri (KLGI Institute offices).

Also present at the ceremony was the Programme Manager at DEMOS, Norbert Pijls, a supporter of the drafting of the LLGF, one of the most vital laws for ensuring the efficiency and sustainability of municipalities.

The overall objective of this cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and the KLGI Institute in drafting the LLGF concerns a broad process of consultation, professional commitment and technical support throughout the entire process.

The Minister of Finance, Avdullah Hoti, first thanked the KLGI Institute and Director Tahiri for their readiness to work on this important project, given their experience in the field of local governance. The aim is to carry out together a legislative reform of local government finance, setting the values for the distribution of the budget to municipalities and creating a legal framework that enables municipalities to maximise their resources. According to Minister Hoti, this will not be merely a temporary cooperation, but a long-term one, intended to expand in support of partners and municipalities in implementing this legislation.

The Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, Besnik Tahiri, emphasised that the Law on Local Government Finance is the foundation of sustainability at the municipal level. Tahiri described this moment as an opportune one for analysing local finances in greater depth and establishing clear, precise and realistic criteria. For a state to be successful, municipalities must deliver results. He is therefore convinced that this Memorandum of Cooperation will produce a good outcome and will increase the functioning and management capacities of municipalities.

For his part, the Programme Manager at DEMOS, Norbert Pijls, stressed that he feels honoured to support the Ministry of Finance, as a team together with the KLGI Institute, in drafting the Law on Local Government Finance, the most important law at the local level. He added that the country has sufficient experience, from its institutions and work with experts, as well as the opportunity to bring in international expertise, so that through this law we can adapt to the needs of municipalities and citizens in Kosovo. Together, therefore, good results can be achieved.

This support from the KLGI Institute to the Ministry of Finance is provided within the framework of the project “An effort towards sustainable and functional local governance”, funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA), Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF), one pillar of whose activities is “Local Finance and Economic Development”.