Our Kosovo office

Luxembourg Cooperation has played an active role in South-Eastern Europe since the end of the Kosovo conflict in 1999. This conflict saw an unprecedented number of refugees in a matter of days, triggering one of the most severe humanitarian crises on the European continent in the recent past. Following these events, a Luxembourg Cooperation office was established in Pristina, in October 1999. At first, it focused mainly on returning refugees and humanitarian aid and participated in the extensive international reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

The neighbouring countries, while not directly affected by the destruction caused by the war, had, nonetheless, felt the consequences of the wave of refugees, and the poverty and economic decline that resulted from the break-up of Yugoslavia. These wars had particularly affected parts of northeastern Montenegro and southwestern Serbia. Thus, Luxembourg extended its support to the entire Balkan region (and this until 2015). Luxembourg's ODA quickly shifted from humanitarian aid to development cooperation.

LuxDev provides technical expertise on the ground and has naturally been the main channel for delivering Luxembourg development aid in this region. Therefore, the consolidation of LuxDev's country office in 2008, based in Pristina, was of considerable importance and the continuation of an operational reflection to cement this engagement.

The bilateral aid implemented through LuxDev is currently focused on the health, governance, and vocational training sectors in Kosovo.