Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Kosovo Jan-April Trade Gap Widens by 10.7% Y/Y- Table

PRISTINA (Kosovo), July 12 (SeeNews) - The trade balance of the U.N.-run province of Kosovo showed a deficit of 308.6 million euro ($372.54 million) through April, up from 275.3 million euro in the same four-month period of 2004, the Kosovo Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

KOSOVO JAN-APRIL TRADE BALANCE (in millions of euro)

................Jan-April'05......y/y pct change.....April'05…….April'04

Exports.........14.1.............+4.4........................4.1...............4.3

Imports.......322.7............+3.9.....................100................87.87

Balance......-308.6............+10.7....................-95.9...........-83.5

NOTE: Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999.

($=0.8284 euro)

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

financials look great...

Anonymous said...

Pull the handle, and send it down the gurgler. Lethoso on the Stara Planina.

Anonymous said...

How the h¤¤¤ should you be able to run a "country" with a minus of 308 mil Euros ???? I believe US, EU and UN are very tired to pay a lot of money to troublemakers and non-grateful gangsters.
Especially when UN is about to leave in a year or two. Maybe you think that things will solve, but believe me. Things will not be solved.
And independence? You must be joking, right. I read daily newspapers from Kosova and also from from the rest of the world, and the only ones that is REALLY talks and believes about independence is Albanians from Kosova. Seems strange. Is it not that you really wants independence to much but maybe will not get it ? Maybe it will not come at all ? In life, there is NOTHING that is 100% sure, believe me. Some people might think they know, or wish something, but at the end, no one knows for sure.

Chevrolet.

Anonymous said...

Its not just the balance.

Look at the numbers -

IMPORTS : 322M,
EXPORTS : 14M

Of exports which how much is just re-export and how much is production?????

Game over, man, game over.

Anonymous said...

With hundreds of factories unable to start work due to UNMIK-s policies, of course you will have a deficit.

On their way out in 1999, the Serbian occupators dismantled the machinery in most of the factories of Kosova and transported it to Serbia. Without access to start-up funds from international organizations, it is virtually impossible to re-start the production on the factories (that were mostly misused from 1990 to 1999 during the serbian occupation and finally stolen by Serbia).

Kosova has the youngest population in Europe and was able to survive 10 years of discrimination under the serbian rule. Small businesses, farms and solidarity from the relatives abroad were keeping Kosova's population going throughout the brutal repression in the 90's.

The first graduates of the post-1999 education system are gradually beginning to take over. Of course, this is a western european education system that Serbia was doing everything to stop from functioning.

IT companies in the area (IPKO, Kujtesa) have already made a mark in the area's history.

Kosovar students are graduating in top 10% class in Ivy League Universities, fully motivated to help their motherland.

While Serbia would like to see an independent Kosova fail, I think that will only happen in their dreams. Although the numbers do not look promising, based on what I saw during my last visit there, once it is recognized internationally, Kosova will become Balkan's Bangalore.

As far as "Chevrolet's" comments, his choice of the name (one of America's worst vehicle maker) tells enough about him.

D.

Anonymous said...

It should be noted that the increase happenned because Rugova imported some bullet-proof American SUVs.

In the long term we are planning on suing Serbia. A few billions from that will take care for a couple of years and start-up funds.

P.S.

I hope he didn't get Chevys.

Anonymous said...

According to the second poster, the solution to all this is ****** (i.e. unknown). If we stay with the UN, things stay the same, if we get independence we're so "savage" it will still not work, and if we stay under Serbia then, well, war on all sides, so it doesnt work.

Seriously, I think that poster is suggestin Kosova become a US state, that seems to be the ONLY possibility...

Serbs are funny, they get carried away with emotions, they fail to make sense :)

Anonymous said...

Did a 2 year old do those financials?

By the way, the export figure is incorrect. It didn’t count exports of opium or weapons to the Al-Quida brethren.

“On their way out in 1999, the Serbian occupators dismantled the machinery in most of the factories of Kosova and transported it to Serbia”

Please provide facts to your claim. I find it hard to believe that they packed up all this equipment and drove hundreds of kilometers to be reassembled somewhere back in Serbia, especially if as you claimed that the equipment was misused in the 90’s. It would be useless to them to refurbish the equipment at that point and not warrant the trip.

As for the comments made by chris blaku, the following are statements made with respect to Kosovo’s independence:

Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini cautioned against any hasty moves toward independence for the province. "What is needed now is stability in the region,'' he said. "There are no existing conditions now to talk about independence for Kosovo.'' 2-24-05

Moscow is against rashly proclaiming of Kosovo independence, announced the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Chizov, cited by RIA Novosti (as reported on this web site)

Kosovo-Metohija Ombudsman Marek Antoni Nowicki said in his fifth and final report for 2005 that the province is in a "legal chaos", that the freedom of movement is still limited, and that there are no mechanisms to protect human rights.

"In the US, some are now saying that a multi-ethnic Kosovo is not realistic and that in the wake of the violence we should reward the perpetrators with immediate independence: status - without standards. But giving in to violence today would give a powerful incentive to the ethnic cleansers of tomorrow. It is a principle as dangerous in the fight against ethnic violence as it is in the fight against terrorism. It risks betraying everything we have stood and fought for in the region for more than a decade." Former Swedish PM and fomer UN Special Envoy to the Balkans, Carl Bildt


AS for blaku’s next comment “the energetic young population is extremely dynamic and able to adapt to numerous situations desired by foreign and domestic employers.”

Elements informally known as the "Albanian mafia," composed largely of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, have for several years been a feature of the criminal underworld in a number of cities in Europe and North America; they have been particularly prominent in the trade in illegal narcotics. [See, for example,"The Albanian Cartel: Filling the Crime Void," Jane's Intelligence Review, November 1995.] The cities where the Albanian cartels are located are also fertile ground for fundraising for support of the Albanian cause in Kosovo. [See, for example, "Albanians in Exile Send Millions of Dollars to Support the KLA," BBC, 3/12/99.]

I ask you chris, is this the same “energetic young population” that you are talking about? What about this?

"The Kosovo Liberation Army, which has won the support of the West for its guerrilla struggle against the heavy armour of the Serbs, is a Marxist-led force funded by dubious sources, including drug money. That is the judgment of senior police officers across Europe. An investigation by The Times has established that police forces in three Western European countries, together with Europol, the European police authority, are separately investigating growing evidence that drug money is funding the KLA's leap from obscurity to power. The financing of the Kosovo guerrilla war poses critical questions and it sorely tests claims to an 'ethical' foreign policy. Should the West back a guerrilla army that appears to be partly financed by organised crime? Could the KLA's need for funds be fuelling the heroin trade across Europe? . . . As well as diverting charitable donations from exiled Kosovans, some of the KLA money is thought to come from drug dealing. Sweden is investigating suspicions of a KLA drug connection. 'We have intelligence leading us to believe that there could be a connection between drug money and the Kosovo Liberation Army,' said Walter Kege, head of the drug enforcement unit in the Swedish police intelligence service. Supporting intelligence has come from other states. 'We have yet to find direct evidence, but our experience tells us that the channels for trading hard drugs are also used for weapons,' said one Swiss police commander. . . . One Western intelligence report quoted by Berliner Zeitung says that DM900 million has reached Kosovo since the guerrillas began operations and half the sum is said to be illegal drug money. In particular, European countries are investigating the Albanian connection: whether Kosovan Albanians living primarily in Germany and Switzerland are creaming off the profits from inner-city heroin dealing and sending the cash to the KLA. Albania -- which plays a key role in channelling money to the Kosovans -- is at the hub of Europe's drug trade. An intelligence report which was prepared by Germany's Federal Criminal Agency concluded: 'Ethnic Albanians are now the most prominent group in the distribution of heroin in Western consumer countries.' Europol, which is based in The Hague, is preparing a report for European interior and justice ministers on a connection between the KLA and Albanian drug gangs. Police in the Czech Republic recently tracked down a Kosovo Albanian drug dealer named Doboshi who had escaped from a Norwegian prison where he was serving 12 years for heroin trading. A raid on Doboshi's apartment turned up documents linking him with arms purchases for the KLA." ["Drugs Money Linked to the Kosovo Rebels," The Times (London), 3/24/99]
"Western intelligence agencies believe the UCK [KLA] has been re-arming with the aid of money from drug-smuggling through Albania, along with donations from the Albanian diaspora in Western Europe and North America. . . . Albania has become the crime capital of Europe. The most powerful groups in the country are organized criminals who use Albania to grow, process, and store a large percentage of the illegal drugs destined for Western Europe. . . . Albania's criminal gangs are actively supporting the war in Kosovo. Many of them have family links to Albanian groups in Kosovo and support them with arms and other supplies, either out of family solidarity or solely for profit. These links mean the UCK fighters have a secure base area and reasonably good lines of communiction to the outside world. Serb troops have tried to seal the border but with little success." ["Life in the Balkan 'Tinderbox' Remains as Dangerous as Ever," Jane's Intelligence Review, 3/1/99]
"Drugs traffickers in Italy, in Germany, in Spain, in France, and in Norway: Kosovo Albanians. The men from the Special Operations Section [ROS] of the carabinieri [i.e., Italian national police], under the leadership of General Mario Mori, have succeeded in neutralizing a fully fledged network of Albanian drugs traffickers. The leader of this network is a certain Gashi Agim, aged 33, originally from Pristina, the capital of the small region that is being torn apart by the struggle between on the one hand the local population, 90 percent of whom are of Albanian ethnic origin and who are calling for independence from Serbia, and [the Yugoslav government] on the other . . . Gashi was arrested early this summer along with 124 drugs traffickers. 'Milan at this juncture has become a crossroads of interests for many fighting groups,' a detective with the ROS explained. 'These groups include also the Albanians from Kosovo who are among the most dangerous traffickers in drugs and in arms. . . . The war in Kosovo has partly slowed down the criminals' business because many Albanians have been forced to take care of their families. Some of them are activists in the armed movement of the KLA fighters and have gone home to fight. They feel Albanian. They are fighting to achieve annexation to Albania. And it is precisely there that at least a part of the sea of money that the Albanian drugs traffickers have amassed is reported to have ended up, to support the families and to fund both certain political personalities and the anti-Serb movement. In spring, a number of Albanian drugs traffickers actually went as far as to take part in the organization of a rally in favor of independence for Kosovo. . . . Drugs, arms, and the Koran: Could this be the murderous crime mix of the next few years?" ["Albanian Mafia, This Is How It Helps The Kosovo Guerrilla Fighters," Corriere della Sera (Milan, Italy), 10/15/98]

really something to be proud of…

Anonymous said...

To the above poster:

You are a looser!
Look more carefully at your sources, they date back to 1998, 1999. Hello and welcome to the real world, it is July 2005.

Also remember, Serbs stole everything possible from Kosova during the NATO bombing. And I mean everything possible. It is estimated that well over 100,000 cars and other vehicles were driven to Serbia. I witnessed this with my own eyes. Serbs even stole my neighbours Ficha, the smallest car ever produces by Zastava, and a car that is worth less than a 100 dollars on the market.

So, you looser, if Serbs stole Fichas, of course they stole everything that was worth stealing from factories.

For your information, in downtown Prishtina, the capital of Kosova, Serbs even stole carpets from all the shops that they looted. Carpets!

So yeah, keep defending the only genocidal nation guilty of committing genocide in Europe after the WW2. At least Nazis accepted responsibility for what they did, Serbs still don't. That makes them one level worse than Nazi Germans. What a looser!

Anonymous said...

LOL Serbs loose so much focus when they get emotional. So now KLA is a Marxist guerila army...what happened to that Al Quaeda talk? :) So KLA is both Marxist and Islamic/Religious/Fanatic power?

Silly indeed...

Anonymous said...

KLA = Terrorist Plain and simple

Anonymous said...

No, He is no looser. You are the loosers and you will be very aware of it in a moth or two.
The long blogg at 3:18 AM is right on EVERY point and I knew this from before.

"Look more carefully at your sources, they date back to 1998, 1999. Hello and welcome to the real world, it is July 2005".

You are so stupid, that I cannot believe it !
Of course it is impossible to give you the proof from 2002 and forward. Give it five seconds to guess why.
Yes, thats right. Because intelligence/investigation is pending. And to give what the West knows would be like giving freedom to all those who will be brought to justice in the future. Kosovo is in chaos. You want so much but you cannot handle it. Remember always "Land should with law be built". (Said in US about 200 years ago.)

Im positive that Eide´s report will be something like "many progresses has been made, but there is a LONG way to go before status talks can begin".
You believe that US will help you ? Well, there are a dozen men who is on the "Albanian side". But remember, and you may not be aware of it, I dont know. There is about the same number of top politicians/congress members that supports the other side, ie Serbia. And for Europe, I dont know a single country, maybe exept Switzerland, that wants Kosova to be an own country.
For myself ? I dont care really. But what I care of, is that NO people have the right to have such a big cause that they fund their goal with criminality. Period. Such a country will lose in the end like Serbia has done.

Anonymous said...

Jesus... they are citing RIA Novosti as a credible source?
That's like citing TANJUG.

Anonymous said...

Hey, serbs... stop ranting and raving.

People of Kosova will decide their own fate in a referendum.

If you want a little "bone thrown your way", encourage the local serbs to participate in local institutions.

Otherwise, there will be another "Oluja" in Kosova...

You can write all day and night, cry, yell, whatever, but that will not help you.

D.

Anonymous said...

Nooo, the people of Kosovo won't decide s***, they never have.

The politicians and bureaucrats in Washington will likely decide on the future of Kosovo.

Of course without continued direct US support, the Serbs will take it back inside a coupla days and reestablish order in a few weeks.

Anonymous said...

Serbs stole my 15 year old car. Sources close to me saw it loaded with small stuff (stolen also, I presume) being driven by a VJ colonel on the last day of withdrawal from Kosova.
They also stole my new kitchen. In the villages, they even dismantled window frames. Let's not mention TV sets, satellite dishes, jewelry right out of people necks. A bunch of pirates, indeed.

Anonymous said...

At 12:03 PM, Anonymous said...
Nooo, the people of Kosovo won't decide s***, they never have.

Oh nevermind, just another serb decided to express the typical Bolshevik Rhetoric.

I am sure that all Kosovars are glad they're in the hands of Washington...

D.

Anonymous said...

Fact remains you claim your sources are gospel, I will claim mine are gospel.

Big f***in deal.

Anonymous said...

Albainian terrorist destroyed my Brothers home, 3 cars and shot at him and is family the whole way out of Kosovo.

so what!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, so what... Where was he when the serb police was burning Albanian homes?

Anonymous said...

12:03 the same people responsible for Srebrenica genocide are in charge of your country!!!!

Are you suggesting another Srebrenica????

Anonymous said...

Serbs didn't own houses nor land in Kosova. They were all stolen through "land reform," ethnic cleansing, or communist and Milosevic apartheid. Don't tell me Serbs lost something in Kosova if they stole it in the first place.

Just a bunch of thievery rascals, that's all you are. No wonder they let you die in camps even in Serbia. They know your kind becuase they picked you one by one less than a century ago to clear up their jails from criminals and streets from beggars and shipped you down to Kosova.
If city Serbs themselves are racist towards rednecks like you, why would you expect anything better from Albanians on whom you have commited ethnic cleansing.

Anonymous said...

At 2:44 PM, Anonymous said...
Albainian terrorist destroyed my Brothers home, 3 cars and shot at him and is family the whole way out of Kosovo.
_____________

No sir, your brother sold the house for a lot of money. With 20% if the money he got, he bought a nice house in Sumadija. With the other 80% of the money, he is livin' large in Serbia.

Now he is claiming that the "terrorists" destroyed his house because it looks like he spent almost all of his money and wants more from Albanians...

He was lying to you...

Oh, I forgot to mention that all these transactions have been recorded, therefore he will not be able to sell his house over and over like he was able to do during the Slobo regime.

Cuz D.

Anonymous said...

Oh I just had a wonderful idea!!!

Reality TV in Serbia!!!!! A bastion of entertainment!!!! Watch irrational, emotional, history-heroin-addicts get high on each other since there are no more Gypsies, Albanians, Bosniacs, Croats to pick on!!!!! Damn, it might be even better than the Osbournes! :)

Anonymous said...

The only terrorists the world has witnessed are Serb bloddy habbits in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosova.

A terrorist terrorizes through actions, thus Serbs have reached TOP place on this list :) just think, you lads beat even Al Quada, since if you do the math, you've killed plenty more people than they have, in even more barbaric ways. Let's do the count:

Attrocities by Serbs 1990-1999
Bosnia ~200,000
Kosova ~10,000
Croatia (i dont know)
(note: i am being very nice here and not counting all the murder/rape done before 1990)

Attrocities by Al Quada 2001-2005
911 NYC ~3,000
Madrid 190
London 59

And the winner is (DRUMS ROLLING)

SERBS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Woohooo... another "victory" for serbs. Let's celebrate....

Anonymous said...

young and energetic population???

You NEVER actually been there, have you guy?

Young, lazy, uneducated, unskilled and unemployable.

Anonymous said...

What a contrast between Chris and the above poster!!!! Malcom Forbes once said "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one". Above poster (11:56AM) reading your comment one can conclude that you clearly do have an empty mind! You lack the will and the imagination to write an educated coment. Maybe you are ignorant or maybe you are educated with an empty mind!
Regarding the Kosovar Albanian youth, in UK alone you have around 500 students in some of the most privileged institutions, including Cambridge and Oxford. About 200 of them are graduate students. Furthermore, there are around 3000 Kosovar students studying in some of the best institutions all over Europe. That is 3% of the Kosovar population. In Kosova itself the number of students has tripled since the war ended.
In these great (student) brains Kosova expects and will have not only a commanding future for itself but will also greatly contribute to the world.
Kosovar youth unlike you (11:56 AM) have a very open mind and are open to the challenges out there.
In 20 years time, when this youth will have yielded Nobel laureates, you will still be posting the same comment.
Regrds,
Faruki

Anonymous said...

What Serbia fails to see through the fog of ignorance and hate is the intellectual and technological tank being built with an Albanian name on it, prepared to crush them if they express their terrorist ideas and barbaric customs.