The topic of discussion was the process of Population and Housing Census in Kosovo 2022.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of KAS, Mr. Ilir T. Berisha, informed the Ambassador about the preparations that are being made to conduct the Population and Housing Census, as well as the challenges that KAS is currently facing on this process.

Initially, Mr. Berisha spoke about the Law on Census, which passed the first reading in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, then focused on the main challenges, which are Procurement activities, staff recruitment, and IT systems. For that, he said, the establishment of a Task Force to support procurement and the field of IT (related to cyber security and the supply of IT equipment) has been requested.

The discussion focused also on the resident population in Kosovo, both in the municipalities and from abroad (diaspora); then for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, the Serb community in the North and other municipalities in the South, and the Memorandum of Understanding between KAS and the Civil Registration Agency (CRA) for the Population Register. Meanwhile, an increased attention was paid to Cyber Security, as the Census will be conducted with a tablet mode.

Another issue discussed at the meeting was rising inflation and oil and edible oil prices in Kosovo.

In this meeting were also present Mr. Saimir Selimi and Mr. Berat Havolli from the EU Office, and Mr. Avni Kastrati, Director of Department of Social and Population Statistics / Population Census Manager from KAS.