Majlinda Kelmendi said that the book includes special details from her career, revealing previously unknown moments for the public, including personal and professional challenges that marked her journey toward Olympic success.

“This is not actually the first book written about Majlinda Kelmendi, but it is the first time I am experiencing such an event. I am very happy that I am in Kosovo today, I had the time to come and meet all of you, especially the children. This book contains a part, I could say not everything, because I had a 20-year-long career, but we tried as much as we could to include all the moments, not to say the bad ones, but the difficult and beautiful ones I experienced during my career”, Majlinda said.

The author of the book, Teuta Berisha, emphasized that the book presents a different dimension of the Olympic champion’s story, adapting the narrative for children and writing it in the first person. According to her, the main goal was for young readers to learn not only about Majlinda’s successes and triumphs, but also the challenges and sacrifices she went through to reach the peak of world sport.

“This book is a very dear project for me and a very special project for Albas, because we have brought a different dimension to the story of our Olympic champion, adapted for children and in the first person. My goal has been for children to learn not only about the successes and triumphs of Majlinda Kelmendi, but also about the challenges and sacrifices she had in reaching her ultimate success. The book contains different messages. Majlinda Kelmendi developed her career alongside the growth of the state of Kosovo; every stage that Kosovo went through, Majlinda also went through, making numerous efforts and serving as an example for the internationalization of sport”, Berisha said.

The author, also a lecturer at the University of Prishtina, spoke about the main message she wants to convey to readers as well as the importance of sports journalism, stressing that the book can serve as inspiration for students and young journalists to approach sport beyond news and reports, producing more in-depth content.

The book promotion and signing took place at the Albas Publishing House stand in the Palace of Youth in Prishtina, where the Olympic champion met and spoke with readers and media, in an event that attracted significant interest during the 26th edition of the fair.

/KosovaPress/

TIRANA, Sept 8 /ATA/ Last week Slovenia hosted the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), a conference well-known for its traditional discussion about the Western Balkans. Although this year the discussions evidently surpassed the regional attention and had a global outreach, the Western Balkan’s future within the EU stole the spotlight. The idea presented by the President of the European Council Charles Michel that the EU and the Western Balkans should be ready for the enlargement by 2030 echoed loudly. The so-called ‘Bled pledge’ left no one cold-hearted, but left everyone with a question mark whether both sides could actually be ready for the enlargement by that date.

My answer to all these questions is clear: the opportunity is here and we should seize it with full speed. We should work towards finding a sufficient political will in the Western Balkans to reform and the political will in the EU to enlarge. We should focus on the final destination, but we shouldn’t overlook the journey.

When it comes to the European Union, the EU enlargement is undoubtedly back on the agenda. Geopolitical landscape makes it clear that there is no alternative to the EU enlargement. The war in Ukraine has increased the appetite for enlargement, as well as affirmed the notion that enlargement is a strategic necessity for the EU. In simple terms – it is now or never.

This of course doesn’t mean that the EU enlargement criteria will be dropped and that the Western Balkans could enter the Union without fulfilling them. It means that more political attention will be given to the region, and that the Western Balkans countries will be asked to deliver expediently.

For the EU this means a self-commitment to reform its decision-making process and to prepare itself, in institutional and financial terms. The EU with more than 30 member states behind the table can simply not be efficient as it should be. Such a reform will not be an easy task, but it is a necessary one. And it is of a strategic importance for the EU, at the same level of importance as the enlargement.

Sceptics would argue that all these tasks appear to be very difficult until 2030. But the realistic point of view is that there won’t be any better offer on the table for the Western Balkans countries and a better opportunity for the Union to improve and adapt to the new global realities.

In Bled, I revealed a formula for the future EU in 2030, called in English “3E by 3E”, encompassing these goals. The EU of 2030 should be more engaged with the World, enlarged with the Western Balkans and our Easters partners, and should have evolved decision-making process to become more efficient. The EU should approach these processes with eagerness, expedience and based on experience. I believe there is nothing much to add.

The years to come will not be about perceptions nor deceptions. They will be about hard work on both sides, the Western Balkans and the EU, in order to prepare both sides for the EU enlargement by 2030.

These difficult times will demand courageous leaders on both sides. Leaders who will look into the future. Leaders who would be ready to put the enlargement at the top of their agenda, and to take the necessary decisions enabling the enlargement to take place. The European elections will therefore be an important milestone for the goal of 2030.

Regardless of the elections, the Western Balkans can always count on Slovenia. We will remain a firm supporter of the full-speed EU enlargement process. A friend of the region in good and bad. For example, Slovenia already advocates the opening of the EU accession negotiations with BiH by the end of this year.

Time will tell whether President Michel gave a historic speech at Bled. I hope the Bled pledge will materialize also because of our magical Bled. The place where beautiful Alpine mountainous scenery meets the crystal-clear lake water is the best place for miracles to happen.

TIRANA, June 21 /ATA/ –Today, 21 June, is the 20^th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki, Greece. At this historic event, the European Union and the acceding and potential candidate countries from the Western Balkans at that time committed themselves to each other. The EU pledged to the European perspective of the Western Balkans, while the countries in the region endorsed the shared values of democracy, the rule of law, respect for human and minority rights, solidarity and a market economy. The Summit conclusions remain an abiding commitment for us all – the EU with its member states, including Slovenia, and the Western Balkans.

Slovenia highly values the Summit, as it gave new hope for the stabilisation of the region after years of wars, political instability and economic stagnation following the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It gave life to a dream of a European future that would lead to positive changes: increased prosperity, improved connectivity and enhanced people-to-people contacts.

In the last twenty years, much has been achieved through cooperation. The Western Balkans has seen a general stability. The countries of the region today enjoy the benefits of a visa-free regime, and the region has recorded steady economic progress since then. The EU is by far the biggest donor and investor in the region, as it naturally gravitates towards the Western Balkans, and vice versa.

Slovenia has been a firm supporter of enlargement within the European Union. We have assisted our Western Balkans partners by lending our political backing and by supporting enlargement-related processes in the region. We have assisted in every way possible. This has been our long-term policy that will not change.

It is no secret, however, that many opportunities have been missed on both sides. It appears that the initial enthusiasm for reform in the Western Balkans has partly evaporated over the two decades and that, as a result, the light at the end of the tunnel indicating EU membership appears to be farther away than we had hoped it would be at this point. However, the EU has been dealing with its own challenges, and the enlargement has not always been a priority. The European Union is now forced to deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine, which has made us re-think our approach to the EU enlargement process in general. We believe it is clear that the enlargement process is fundamentally a strategic choice, not only a technical exercise. Nevertheless, further enlargement must follow the fundamental vision of the European integration process, which is based on solidarity and the actual progress of candidate countries. Courageous political decisions are needed.

Our messages to the region, to Europe and the world are clear. Firstly, the EU is objectively a very good choice for the region, but it is up to the Western Balkans countries to decide on their future. Secondly, Slovenia has no selfish interests in the region. Our policy is driven by solidarity with the countries and people of the Western Balkans. Slovenia wants what the people want: stability and security as a prerequisite for prosperity and economic progress.

The Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the EU can count on Slovenia, now and in the future.

”Communities” include not only at-risk groups, but also other stakeholders who are linked to these affected populations and who may be able to support the preparedness and response process.

And, in many communities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based trusted influencers are the only people available and able to engage and inform people and address their concerns.

At a two-day workshop in Tirana organized by the WHO Country Office in Albania, with technical support from WHO Regional Office for Europe’s risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management (RCI) and WHO Health Emergencies (WHE) Balkan Hub teams, as well as and financial support from the European Union, representatives of CSOs, health authorities, partners and other stakeholders discussed the importance of community engagement and how to go about identifying relevant communities and establish mechanisms to dialogue with communities.

In her address to the workshop, Dr. Eugena Tomini, General Director of Institute of Public Health, stated that, “Effective communication about risks during an emergency through community engagement is a vital public health intervention. It saves lives during the emergencies, and every investment in crisis communication and community engagement is an investment in health and health security and a safe society.”

We have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic that socially vulnerable populations may be disproportionally affected by a public health crisis, and they also are often under-represented in active stakeholder groups responding to the crisis, she added.
The principles of community engagement therefore need to be kept at the core, including and in particular for socially vulnerable populations.

This requires the involvement of community-based partners in the exchange of risk information, and the development of a trusting foundation for shared decision-making that, in addition to health concerns, necessarily also addresses a range of social, economic, political, and environmental issues.
The ultimate aim of community engagement activities is to facilitate the development of an informed community that – in collaboration with the health and relevant non-health sectors – is empowered to ensure the security and protection of all its members.

For Leonardo Palumbo, Community Engagement Officer with WHO Regional Office for Europe, community-led responses have never been higher in the agenda of World Health Organization (WHO) and health authorities as during the COVID19 pandemic.

“Engaging critical community audiences as both recipients and advocates of COVID-19 vaccines is of crucial importance for reaching out and communicating with at-risk and vulnerable target populations,” he said.
Participants in the workshop were trained by the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s experts on how to map community structures, establish dialogue with communities and build partnerships with relevant community stakeholders, including CSOs. Additionally, they discussed on lessons learned during the COVID-19 response, which helped identifying current challenges, capitalizing on experiences on communicating about COVID-19 preventive measures with marginalized groups and defining the role of communities in health emergencies.

Bernard Segarra, Programme Officer at Operations Section for Sustainable Economic and Social Development, Delegation of the European Union to Albania, stated that, “Countries need support to build capacities on RCCE, and make sure that it is at the heart of all public health interventions, especially in emergencies. We have all seen how these community-based empowerment initiatives successfully assisted in the pandemic response.”

In her address to the event as a keynote speaker, Dr Najada Çomo, Head of the Infectious Diseases Service at University Hospital “Mother Tereza” in Tirana, stressed that “Health officials can help to build more resilient communities that are better prepared for future health emergencies by valuing the community-level methods used in overcoming COVID-19 and further strengthening the skills of community group members.”

“With the overall goal of strengthening the country’s capacities for community engagement before, during and after public health emergencies, the workshop helped also at establishing structures, systems and skills for a tripartite collaboration between health authorities, WHO and CSOs to enhance acceptance and uptake of preventive measures, including vaccination and community resilience to health emergencies,” said Dr Gazmend Bejtja, Public Health Officer with WHO Country Office in Albania.
The priority actions and lessons learned identified in the workshop will be used to calibrate future RCI activities in the country, and more specifically the vaccination intervention related to the promotion of COVID-19 vaccination.

TIRANA, March 15/ATA/- “The delayed reform of Albania’s  welfare program will go ahead as a guarantee that will put an end to party clientelism and corruption to the detriment of the poorest and as another instrument against unemployment and chronic laziness”, stated on Thursday at the Assembly Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The prime minister was speaking during a session of debate on the motion proposed by the Democratic Party in opposition on the issue of removal from the scheme of welfare program of more than 20 thousand low-income families countrywide.

PM Rama drew the attention on the poverty level in Albania during the period 2008-2011 and backed his claims with indicators provided by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) and confirmed by the World Bank.

“Poverty level increased from 12 .5 percent into 14.3 percent and extreme poverty from 1.2 percent into 2.3 percent, while the welfare program scheme covered only 14 percent”, said PM Rama.

Therefore, emphasized the prime minister, the World Bank reached to the conclusion that the old scheme of welfare program was out of date and suggested to the government the reform that we are currently implementing.

“Those demanding an explanation on the new welfare program are the same people who provide themselves with economic benefits at the Municipal Council of Kukësi city. We undertook the reform immediately after removal of certain criteria from the check list excluding the television set, the refrigerator and the shower boiler”, said PM Rama.

The prime minister emphasized that every unnecessary red tape was reduced and the poor families are only required to produce one from 9 documents. “These changes have enabled that more than 18 thousand families apply for economic assistance while in the old scheme they were excluded”, said PM Rama.

While reminding that according to the old scheme the economic benefits amounted to 6 thousand lekë, PM Rama emphasized that, “at present the economic benefits amount to 110 thousand lekë per month”.

Further on, the prime minister emphasized that all the package of social assistance amounts to 10 billion lekë.

The prime minister also drew the attention to the 6% municipal funds designed for economic assistance.

PM Rama called on the town halls that have not yet used the 6% fund scheme set to the local government for the purpose of economic assistance.

“This fund goes to the families in need that the local government decides to pay benefits. By 2011, the fund was 3% and was never used. While at present there are 3402 households that have benefited from this fund and are included in this scheme”, said PM Rama.

According to the prime minister, 42 among 60 town halls have already provided this fund.

Further on, the prime minister emphasized that the scheme of social assistance is flexible, but there is no room for those who abuse with it.

Likewise, the prime minister highlighted the vision of the government of considering the economic assistance like an emergency situation and support employment.

Meanwhile, the prime minister pointed to the opposition leader Lulzim Basha and mentioned several cases when he has used the economic assistance for political propaganda./p.s./

The agreement is for building the “Park of Art”, a project that revitalizes Natural Park at former film studios. It will be a new artistic centre located at the outskirts of Tirana, reported the Ministry of Culture in its webpage.

The project carries in its core the philosophy of Italian thinker of Albanian origin Antonio Gramsci and it will be an intermingle of installations of statues produced according to Albania’s socialist realism principles.

Minister Kumbaro said she expects debates on delicate topics like Albania’s communist past. But, added the minister, we shall have to constantly face them, at least the generation that spent half of its life under dictatorship.

The project is co-financed by Albania’s Ministry of Culture and Apulia Region.

Kumbaro and Emiliano also agreed on cooperation with Albania’s Opera and Ballet Theatre which this current year will carry in its agenda of activities even tours to the theatres of Apulia Region./r.e/p.s./

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TIRANA, March 7/ATA/-Albanian farmers can benefit 50% of their investment in improvement of standards and food safety through applying to the national scheme of support for agriculture.

While extending an invitation to all the farmers who apply to this scheme of support, Prime Minister Edi Rama shared an informative video on his Facebook page showing details of the process.

“I wish a good day with this invitation to the Albanian farmers for benefiting 50% of their investment in improvement of the standards and food safety through applying to the national scheme of support for the agriculture,” writes PM Rama.

The scheme of support for agriculture consists of a 20 million Euros fund. It aims at pursuing the economic model of boosting exports through supporting all the main agriculture products in the export basket.

Likewise, the scheme targets to approach as many farmers as possible to joint organisms something that ensures reliability and greater production and in the same way the policies that can be launched for development of the intermediary sectors of agri-tourism, agri-processing, fishery and aqua-culture./m.m//e.caushi/p.s./