18 firms put up for sale in Kosovo's privatization bid

Associated Press, May 24, 2006 4:15 AM

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Kosovo's authorities put up for sale patches of agricultural land, warehouses, shops and a cinema as part of privatization efforts aimed at reviving the province's economy.

 

The Kosova Trust Agency, the U.N. entity responsible for privatizing the province's enterprises, launched the 16th round of privatization Tuesday, hoping to create 30 new companies when the sales are completed, a statement from the agency said.

 

The companies were once owned by workers and managers under a system set up during communist-era Yugoslavia, and are now considered inefficient and dilapidated after years of neglect.

 

Privatization is among the most sensitive issues in Kosovo, as it is still unclear whether the province will become independent or remain part of Serbia.

 

Kosovo was placed under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO air strikes that ended a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

 

Serbia's authorities, which want to maintain some control over Kosovo, have fiercely opposed the privatizations, while Kosovo's ethnic Albanian authorities are eager to sell hundreds of such assets, in hopes of opening investment opportunities and creating jobs.