Kosovar citizens since Wednesday have a new document of their citizenship - the passport of the Republic of Kosovo - and are expected to have new identification cards, driver license cards, birth certificates, temporary and permanent residency cards - all to start being issued in August.

 

The first citizen to receive the passport of the Republic of Kosovo was Teuta Begolli from Prishtina. Her fortune was twofold. Besides becoming the first Kosovar to receive the passport of the Republic of Kosovo, her passport was presented to her by the Prime Minister.

The high officials, who attended the solemn ceremony of handing the first passports of the state of Kosovo, pointed to the “gradual completion of the commitments of the state to its citizens.”

PM Thaçi called the day historical for the citizens of Kosovo. "Today begins a new age of permanent discontinuation of the other identity documents. As of today, the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo have their national identity," said Thaçi.

Meanwhile, Teuta Begolli, while showing her passport to the media, said that she feels very happy being the first citizen to receive the passport of the Republic of Kosovo. “I feel thrilled and surprised that I am the first citizen to receive the passport of my country," she stated.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, Zenun Pajaziti, asked citizens for patience and understanding for the delays caused during the process. "We have had difficulties in the first days until we installed a new fast document processing system; as you all know at the beginning we used UNMIK's system," said Pajaziti. He promised the citizens that the new system will expedite the process and the offices will stay open seven days a week, anticipating a normalized process during next week.

According to the Interior Minister, "in the first week of August, the government will begin issuing new identification and driver license cards of the Republic of Kosovo."
 
Minister Pajaziti assured that the Ministry of Interior Affairs has serious projects as part of the whole reformation process of the civil services in Kosovo. This also includes providing citizens with birth certificates and naturalization cards which will be in accordance with high European Union standards.

Pajaziti said that the dedication to complete this process is very important for Kosovo to be able to sign the visa liberalization agreement with the European Union.

According to the Interior Ministry plans, authorities will issue at least 600,000 passports to the tune around 1,800,000 euros. The documents are produced by the company G&D from Germany.