Albania – Kosovo, meeting of pension institutions representatives

rishtina, 10 October 2014 – Management of Social Insurance Institute of Albania (SII), members of the Governing Board of Kosovo Pension Savings Trust (KPST) and representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Kosovo held today a joint meeting in Prishtina.

The SII was represented by the Director, Mrs. Vjollca Braho, accompanied by the Ambassador of Albania in Kosovo, Mr. Qemal Minxhozi. On the other side, Kosovo pension institutions were represented by the KPST, the Chairperson of the Board, Mr. Ymer Havolli, along with the other members of the Board, and the Management of the KPST, as well as the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, by the Advisor to the Minister, Mr. Behxhet Gaxhiqi, and the Director of Pension Administration Department, Mr. Sami Salih.

This first meeting was aimed at establishing a formal cooperation in the field of pensions and signing a cooperation agreement between the two countries (Albania and Kosovo), which would lead to the recognition of retirement and pension savings of contributing employees in both countries. After this meeting, both sides are expected to explore concrete possibilities of aligning the relevant legislation that would enable this process. Currently, it is estimated that there are hundreds of citizens from Albania employed in Kosovo and vice versa. In addition, in the near future we expect the number of such employees to significantly grow, especially after the recent initiative on full liberalization of labor market between Albania and Kosovo.

Foto from the meeting: