The President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, during her official visit to Austria met the members of the Kosovo-Austria friendship association, gave a lecture at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and met with a group of successful Austrian women, upon an invitation of the First Lady of Austria, Mrs. Doris Schmidauer.
During the meeting with the Kosovo-Austria friendship association, led by MEP Lukas Mandl, President Osmani thanked the Austrian state for its support to Kosovo at various stages throughout history. She stressed that Kosovo has already met all the criteria laid out for visa liberalization and asked the EU to keep its promise given to Kosovars.
In addition, President Osmani expressed her conviction that Austria will continue to stand by Kosovo in the processes of Euro-Atlantic integrations.
“The Republic of Kosovo has an extraordinary potential of young people, who are educated and able to prove their worth​​as soon as they are given the opportunity to do so. We must ensure mobility and build a strong partnership, “said President Osmani at a meeting with the Kosovo-Austria Friendship Group.
In this context, she also mentioned the role of the Albanian diaspora in the Austrian state.
“Our diaspora here has an essential role for the Republic of Kosovo, the cause of the potential, knowledge and new ideas they bring,” said President Osmani.
President Osmani also met with a group of successful women in Austria, organized under the auspices of the First Lady of Austria, Doris Schmidauer, which was also attended by the Minister of Justice in the Austrian government, Alma Zadic, former rapporteur of the European Parliament for Kosovo, Ulrike Lunacek, and various women from the fields of business, academia, politics and civil society. The challenges and opportunities faced by women in the public and private sector, as well as in society in general were issues that were discussed at this meeting. The President discussed the role of women in bringing about a significant political change and expressed the need for investment in education and health care to enable and empower women to be equal in the labour market, as well as the need to create more jobs for young people and women.
At the end of the first day of her visit to Austria, President Osmani gave a lecture at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, on “Strengthening Kosovo's statehood – Challenges and Success Stories”. Through this interactive lecture, President Osmani unveiled the path of the people of Kosovo towards independence and state-building and discussed the challenges faced by the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, the successes achieved, and the forthcoming goals.