SHUKALB and SHUKOS Organize Successfully the 9th Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition 2021, “Valuing Water”

On 3, 4, 5 November 2021, SHUKALB in partnership with SHUKOS (The Water and Wastewater Works Association Kosovo) organized the 9^th Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition, titled “Valuing Water”, held as a virtual event via Zoom platform. The virtual Conference attracted over 200 water professionals representing water utilities, donor’s community, private companies, academic institutions as well as other central and local government institutions from 14 different countries.

The Technical Program of the Conference consisted of 12 thematically diverse sessions, organized in 9 different Technical Sessions and 3 Plenary Sessions, with over 33 presentations. There were 68 moderators and speakers who through their presentations and discussions shared best practices being used along with the challenges and opportunities that exist in the water sector.

The three-day event started on 3 November, with a welcome address for all participants by the President of SHUKOS, Agron Tigani. In his speech, among others, Mr. Tigani greeted the donors such as the German Development Bank-KfW, the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo and USAID, where with their support and the Government of Kosovo many projects have been implemented, to include the recent investments made in Prizren, Gjakova and Peja, for the construction of Wastewater Treatment Plants. Wastewater treatment is one of the criteria for EU membership, so all river flows must be protected against man-made pollution.

The 1^st day of the Conference was officially opened by the greeting remarks of H.E. Albin Kurti, Prime Minister, Government of the Republic of Kosovo. In his speech, among others, H.E. Albin Kurti stated: “Water security is and remains vital for our socio-economic development, food security, health and ecosystems. Our country cannot be immune to the environmental crisis, so it is necessary to protect and ensure the good management of our water resources, to build new reservoirs and provide water for economic development for future generations”.

The Conference continued with the first keynote address by Oliver Loebel, Secretary General, European Federation of National Associations of Water Services, Belgium, who shared a presentation on “Valuing our Water – A Prerequisite for Sustainable Water Services”. In speaking about water’s value, Mr. Loebel stated: “Where water is priced, meaning consumers are charged for using it, the price reflects attempts for cost recovery and not value delivered”.

The second keynote address was held by Camilo Lombana Cordoba, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, World Bank Group.  In his speech, Mr. Cordoba stated: “Utilities are playing a key role in ensuring safe, reliable and sustainable water supply and sanitation services.  However many of them are not ready to tackle the challenges that they have ahead, so the problem we see it is that utilities face several challenges in fulfilling their main mandate of providing safe water and sanitation for other users. This includes obstacles, such as not being able to provide the service to a population that keeps on growing, the challenges in recovering the operational cost and inability to recover from external shocks and stresses as the one that we are seeing these days with COVID-19, where several utilities are still struggling to recover from the pandemic”.

After the delivery of the keynote addresses, the Conference continued with the first plenary session of the program, dedicated to the overall theme of the conference “Valuing Water: A Holistic Overview”. The session was moderated by Ndriçim Shani, Chairman of the Water Regulatory Authority, Albania and the panelists who joined the discussions were Hajrije Morina, Director, Water and Waste Regulatory Office, Kosovo; Sokol Xhafa, Acting General Director, Regional Water Company Pristina, Kosovo; Zef Maçi, Administrator, Lezha Water Supply and Sewerage Company, Albania; Dr. Gabriele Lames, Programme Manager, Customer and Performance Oriented Drinking Water and Sanitation Services, GIZ, Albania and Altin Hazizaj, Senior Consultant on Public Relations and Customer Services, Rural Water Supply Programme III, Albania.

Following the first plenary session, the program continued with 3 (three) technical sessions, “Water Resources Management”, “Regulatory Framework” and “Water Utilities Organization and Management”.

The second day of the Conference, 4^th of November, started with a welcome address for all participants by the President of SHUKALB, Petrit Tare. In his speech, among others, Mr. Tare said: “The importance of water is its value in nature, but in terms of Water Supply and Sewerage Companies, this value must be returned in the context that we come close to the consumer. We need to protect water resources, but also for the consumer to understand that water has a cost”.

After the speech of Mr. Tare, the Conference continued with greeting remarks by Mentor Arifaj, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy, Kosovo. In his speech, among others, Mr. Arifaj stated: “Given the fact that Kosovo is a country that has limited water resources and being aware of the effects of climate change, one of our priorities will be to reduce water losses.”

The second Plenary Session, “Building the Utilities of the Future: Understanding the Journey Ahead” was moderated by Baton Begolli, Inter – Ministerial Water Council, Office of the Prime Minister, Kosovo. To discuss this theme, the invited panelists were Patricia Lopez, Senior Infrastructure Finance Specialist, World Bank; Flauers Shoshi, Deputy General Director, National Agency for Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure, Albania; Petrit Tare, Administrator, Korça Water Supply and Sewerage Company, Albania; Elisabeta Poçi, Executive Director, SHUKALB and Tamás Bencze, International Business Development Director, Budapest Waterworks, Hungary.

The program of the 2^nd day continued with the technical sessions dedicated to “Crisis Management”, “Technical Operation and Maintenance of Water Utilities I” and “Technical Operation and Maintenance of Water Utilities II”.

The third day of the Conference, 5^th of November, was opened with the greeting remarks of Liburn Aliu, Minister, Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Kosovo.

In his speech Mr. Aliu said: “One of our priorities for the coming years/ decade is to be able to ensure water for drinking and irrigation. On the other hand, our discharges often pollute the surrounding environment, and wastewater treatment is still part of our goals, so that we can discharge water to neighboring countries as clean as possible”.

The conference continued with the 3^rd Plenary Session “Water Supply and Sewerage Infrastructure Management in the Context of EU Integration”, moderated by Jovan Gjika, National Agency for Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure, Albania.  The invited panelists were Stuart Brown, Team Leader, Water Negotiations and Investment Planning Support, Albania; Baton Begolli, Water Policy Advisor, Inter – Ministerial Water Council, Office of the Prime Minister, Kosovo; Agron Haxhimali, Executive Director, Association of Municipalities, Albania; Adelina Farrici, Executive Director, Association for Local Autonomy, Albania; and Aida Moranjkic, CD Product Manager, AQUASAN Network, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Conference program continued with the three last Technical Sessions on “Water Supply and Sewerage Management”; “Wastewater Management” and “Innovative Approaches”.

Virtual Technical Exhibition

Participants at the Conference had the opportunity to visit our virtual Exhibition organized through a virtual platform where the exhibiting companies presented their products and services through pre-recorded videos, images, brochures and other relevant information. In addition, participants had the opportunity to meet and interact virtually with the representatives of the exhibiting companies.  Five exhibiting companies joined our Exhibition this year Budapest Waterworks, Konti Hidroplast; Valvotubi Ind. Srl, GF Piping Systems and Altereo, who were also the sponsors of this event.

At the end of the Conference, as a side event, it was organized the Young Water Professionals Forum, titled “Young Water Professionals in Charge of the Future Water Sector”. The objective of the forum was to provide a platform of exchange and networking for young people, students or graduates in the early steps of their career, in order to motivate them to stay and develop a career in the water sector.

The Forum attracted around 50 young water professionals from Albania and Kosovo, who represented not only students but also professionals engaged in different positions at water utilities as well as other water related institutions.

SHUKALB and SHUKOS wish to thank the organizations and companies who supported the organization of the 9^th Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition, the Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) for Water and Sanitation Services, Budapest Waterworks, Konti Hidroplast, Valvotubi Ind. Srl, GF Piping Systems and Altereo.

We would like to share with you the presentations presented during the three days of the conference, as well as some photos of the event. You may access these materials in the links below.

• Presentations
• Conference and Exhibition Photos

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