CIPE’s long term partner Riinvest Institute for Development Research is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Riinvest held a conference on May 15 and 16 titled, “Activating the Sources of Economic Growth in Kosovo”. The conference brought together an impressive audience— the President and the Prime Minister of Kosovo*, the Deputy Minister of Finance, the World Bank Country Manager, other high level public officials, academics, business people, NGO leaders, the donor community, and members of the media.
*Kosovo’s newly-elected Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, is the former President of Riinvest.
Riinvest leaders presented awards to a number of partners, individuals, and organizations who have supported the organization since its inception. CIPE had the honor of being presented the first two awards, one for Executive Director John Sullivan and one for the organization as a whole. CIPE Senior Consultant Carmen Stanila kindly received both awards on behalf of John and the organization.
CIPE Senior Consultant Carmen Stanila accepting awards on behalf of CIPE
Since its establishment, Riinvest and CIPE have worked side-by-side as strategic partners to strengthen Kosovo’s democratic institutions and improve the business regulatory environment for small and medium-sized enterprises. CIPE is proud to be among Riinvest’s initial partners.
CIPE Deputy Director for Strategic Planning Andrew Wilson gave a video address at the conference where he reminisced on the partnership’s beginning:
“I recall well when you [Riinvest] started your programs back in the early 1990s looking at the issues of small and medium enterprise development in Kosovo, and we were really struck by the breadth and depth of the study that you created – a landmark report on its own. And, when the war broke out, Riinvest was the voice of democracy at that point of time in Kosovo. You taught a lesson to your colleagues about the importance of solid analysis and coming up with important recommendations that made sure that the policies that were being put in place to benefit Kosovars truly did so.”
Under the inspirational leadership of Dr. Muhamet Mustafa, Riinvest, with the support of CIPE, spearheaded the economic reconstruction and development of post-war Kosovo.
Within recent years, the organization went through a remarkable leadership transfer from its team of founders-visionaries to a new generation of highly-skilled researchers and reform advocates. The new team has been led by Dr. Lumir Abdixhiku since 2010.
CIPE continues to have an incredibly productive working relationship with Riinvest’s new leadership as it seeks to increase accountability and transparency in public procurement and corporate governance at both the state and firm levels.
Riinvest is not only one of CIPE’s oldest and most trusted partners, but also among the most inspiring think tanks that we have had the privilege to work with globally. This inspirational organization has played an advisory role to several CIPE partners in other regions including Jordan, Turkey, and Syria.
It is with great pleasure that CIPE congratulates the Riinvest Institute on its 20th anniversary.
Riinvest’s success story serves as an inspiration to its peers across the world.
From all of us in the CIPE family to our friends at Riinvest, here’s to another twenty years!
To view photos from Riinvest’s 20th anniversary event visit their official Facebook page.
Videos of the conference proceedings can be viewed here, here, and here.
Natalia Otel Belan is a Senior Program Officer for Eastern Europe and Eurasia at CIPE.
