KDI in cooperation with the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Development, Environment and Spatial Planning of the Assembly of Kosovo, on 20th of December 2017 held a public discussion in Rahovec regarding the Law on Wines in the Republic of Kosovo. The parliamentary research on the challenges in the implementation of this Law, supported by KDI and prepared by the wine sector expert, Mustafa Kastrati, was presented at this public hearing.

Participants in this public discussion were the MPs Daut Haradinaj and Andin Hoti, Mayor of Rahovec, Smajl Latifi, the Director of the Winery Department within the Ministry of Agriculture, Bekim Hoxha, and a large number of wine producers, farmers and citizens from the region of Rahovec, Gjakova and Suhareka. In this public hearing were discussed concrete issues that concerns wine producers, where the main concern was the lack of subsidies and grant support to increase competitiveness and increase the quality of local wine.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Daut Haradinaj, called on all wine producers to present their concerns to the Committee, but also individually to the MPs in order to address these requirements with priority and to take the necessary institutional steps for potential changes in the current Wine Law.

The realization of this public discussion and parliamentary research was facilitated with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the project for “Support of Parliamentary Research Activity in Kosovo”, implemented by the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI). This project aims to support the Directorate for Research, Archive and Library with research from research institutes and independent researchers outside the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.