Monthly Archives: April 2014

Rene Rexhepi, on the top once again!

After a year long brake, the “Noma” restaurant, owned and operated by the Danish-Albanian Rene Rexhepi, has once again been selected as the best in the world.

“Noma” has topped the list of over 50 competing restaurants through the years 2010,2011 and 2012. It is only last year (2013) that the price had been grabbed away by the spanish restaurant “El Celler de Can Roca”. With a comeback, “Noma” is again back on the first place this year.

On Monday, at the ceremony, Rexhepi had explained how his inspiration comes from his team and that he acknowledges that often, he is a difficult person to deal with. He adds that  the goal is yet to be reached, there are yet many other inventions and creations to be made.

Rene Rexhepi is the son of a Tetovo Albanian and Danish. On 2012, with the celebration of the 100th year of Albanian Independence, he had visited Tirana.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch – Click here to read the original article.

BAKC invites you to Kosova Club

BAKC (British Albanian Kosovar Council) starting from 3rd of May 2014 will begin with its weekly (every Saturday) call for unique and all inclusive projects. Young people, old, women and men as well as children are all invited to part-take in these eventful days.

There will be Albanian language lessons, English lessons, history, poetry, traditional dances, travels, concerts, yoga and meditation. All in all, the participants are all in for a treat. The council is also very open for new ideas and suggestions.

The British Albanian Kosovar Council, alongside with Chrysalis Family will also be there for free counseling over you career and well-being. There are countless other surprises!

Kosova Club, every Saturday, starting from 3rd of May 2014 at QK Academy,12pm-14pm.

Adress:
QK Academy
Quintin Kynaston
Marlborough Hill
London
NW8 0N

For further contact:

Nora Abullahu Kastrati – Project Co-Leader:
Mobile: 07883077426 Email: [email protected]

Beqir Shillova – Project Co-Leader:
Mobile: 07956414024 Email: [email protected]

Ambassador Greiçevci meets the future Kosovar pilots

The Kosovar Ambassador in the United Kingdom, Mr. Lirim Greiçevci on 16th of April had the chance to fly with one of the pilots on the training at the RAF Military Air Base “Syerston”. 

“Today I had the chance to visit one of our cadets, a pilot in the training at the British Military Air Base. Without a doubt, flying with Veton has been a special experience indeed” Mr. Greiçevci wrote on his Twitter account.

Veton Breznica has just finished the year long training for his engine-less aircraft. Similarly, Albert Asllani is another lieutenant who has finished the same flying course two years ago. General Kastrati had decorated the young officer for the achievement and successful representation of the KSF. There is a total of 9 KSF officers that have undergone this particular training, who have previously finished their studies at the KSF University Studies in Kosovo.

The original article was posted at Ukalbanians.net – Click here to read the original article.

 

Ministry of Diaspora supports a London based business network

The Kosovar Diaspora Minister has given his support for the creation of a London based Diaspora Network of Businesses with the sole purpose of tie creation and better community representation. 

Minster Makolli visited London on 19th of April where he met with many business representatives from throughout United Kingdom. Mr. Makolli emphasized that until now there have been a number of other such initiatives from our diaspora, starting from Switzerland,Austria,Germany, United States, Italy,Slovenia,France.

The event brought together a range of key actors such as officials from the Kosovar Government, Ministry of Trade and Industry, UNDP,IOM and American Chamber of Commerce.

The participants agreed on creating a task force where 11 members had been chosen to promote and strengthen the ties of the network. The majority of the elected members are Albanian businessmen from Great Britain. The creation of such network is intended to strengthen ties and improve business practices, that in turn would benefit members as well as the host countries and countries of origin.

The original article was posted at Ukalbanians.net – Click here to read the original article.

Edi to wave the Kosovar Flag

Edi Haxhiu is an upcoming racing star. His recent contract with BMW is another indicator on his promising future. Currently residing in Switzerland, his father who is also his manager hopes on support from the Kosovar government upon the journey to superstardom. “Edi was born and raised in Switzerland however we have decided that we shall compete under the Kosovan flag.We hope that our decision will be supported and aided by the Kosovar government”.

Recently Edi has been participating on test drives at “Piero Taruffi” Italy where his talent did not go unrewarded.The Kosovan flag will be waving on a junior Formula competition(Italy) for the first time, where Edi is expected to represent Kosovo and part take on the race.

The original article was posted at Indeksonline – Click here to read the original article.

NAPEC Innovation Conference 2014

NAPEC Innovation Conference 2014 was held on Saturday, April the 12th in New York, bringing together entrepreneurs, academics, students, international experts, business support organization representative, stock exchange and financial institution executives, policy makers, and international agencies involved in small and medium-sized business development. This annual event showcases leaders in business growth and development. NAPEC Innovation Challenge, as the centerpiece of the NAPEC Conference, brings together student entrepreneurs from top universities to compete for over $20K in cash prizes.

This year’s NAPEC Innovation Conference presented six outstanding business ideas, selected out of over 100 applications. CardioGuard, Insight Neurologics, Lionano, Phizzbo, SolsticePower LLC and ZYMtronix Catalytic Systems Inc were the student entrepreneurial teams that were selected as the top six to present their ideas in NAPEC Innovation Conference this year. These student teams have all successfully conceptualized innovative products and services and created business plans for the products’ and services’ commercialization.

In addition to showcasing their ideas to entrepreneurs, the finalists received valuable feedback on their ventures by entrepreneurs, investors and venture capitalists. Among the guests was Chip Dempsey, Executive Director at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Demsey advised the young entrepreneurs to find the person or the company who needs them to succeed as bad you do. He emphasized the importance of strategic investor for sustainable growth and development for small and medium enterprises. Among the speakers were Blake Swensrud, Chairman at WorldCell Inc, Mustafa Baltacı, Executive Vice President at Borsa İstanbul and Gligor Tashkovich, Former Minister of Foreign Investment at Government of the Republic of Macedonia and Co-chair of NAPEC Innovation Conference.

The success of the organizers of the NAPEC Innovation Conference, Erdoan Shipoli, Lirida Kercelli and Ardian Istrefi has led to immense interest and further initiatives. As a result, the second NAPEC Innovation Conference in 2014 was held on April 18th, in Chicago.

Diaspora students from Austria visit Kosovo and Albania

The Kosovan Minister of Diaspora, Ibrahim Makolli has been the host of 50 Albanian students from Austria whom will be touring around Kosovo and Albania for the upcoming days.

Mr. Makolli has spoken in front of the students over a range of topics concerning the importance of preserving tradition, history and the Albanian language. “Even though you are born and raised abroad, you should not forget your origin, where your roots are, where the Albanian language is spoken. Throughout Kosovo, you will be able to see many statues and memorials of people whom gave everything to preserve this language” were among the points that Mr. Makolli raised on his speech.

The students were also urged to socialize with one and other, to influence their peers on learning the language and preserve the culture. Mr. Makolli was especially grateful to the teachers and academics that are actively engaged in the teaching of the language.  The students have been organized and lead by Osman Ademi,Miradije Berishaj, Milaim Zyrapi and Roza Ndrecaj, all teachers of Albanian language in Austria.

The students will be touring both Kosovo and Albania in seek of a better understanding of their cultural origin.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch – Click here to read the original article.

Blakçori receives gold with Kosovo’s “Heroinat”

Ilir Blakçori, the creator of “Heroinat” has been awarded the golden award at the “A Design Award Competition” held in Milan,Italy.

The project “Heroinat” had been chosen amongst thousands of other entries and has been valued for its interesting design and architectural quality. The award has been given for the architectural, construction and the design of the project.

“Ilir Blakçori, the designer of the “Heroinat” memorial has been able to demonstrate the pain and contribution of women during the Kosovo war, a contribution that has yet to be given the importance that it deserves. The memorial as it is, honors each and every unknown contributor, to an individual level.” – were among the reasons that jury members decided to award the memorial.

The original article was posted at Illyriapress.com Click here to read the original article.

Alberina and her award winning essay

Alberina Shabani is a 13 year old passionate writer who has won the first place with her essay at the “Say Multi” competition. An annual competition held in Austria where children are encouraged to share their essays.

Alberina’s essay is written in such a way where her grandfather narrates the hardships of children in Kosovo, orphans of the past war as well as the child workers whom are engaged in daily struggles of securing food. Alberina’s essay was titled “Education is a human right” a strong and important message aimed at improving the living conditions of many struggling families in Kosovo.

The Jury from the Economical Integration Society, the actual initiators of the competition, has chosen a total of 16 essays from the competing 407 that had been submitted from throughout Austria. Only three from the total competing works had been chosen as winners.

At the final evening event, Alberina had the chance to hold a speech in both German and Albanian, where it is important to note the presence of Vienna’s mayor Mr. Michael Häupl, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sebastian Kurz, Alev Korun from the Austrian parliament as well as businessmen and family members.

The Kosovan (Alberina), currently living in Grieskircheni of Austria has been chosen alongside two other youngsters to hold a speech as a mean of appreciating her work.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch – Click here to read the original article.

Changing the world with passion for dance

The art of dance brings joy and connects people on daily basis through its rhythmic movements and expressions. Ardena Gojani, Kosovo’s own dancing queen, is enthusiastic to change the world through her passion for dance. She has now also taught and studied dance in several countries as well as runs her own successful studio, Argo dance & fitness in Norway.

This inspiring story of the talented dancer takes us back to 1999 when she immigrated to the United States, with hopes to live the American dream. While she was a student in high school, Ardena started working as an active volunteer for the International Book Project (IBP), a non-profit organization. “I raised over $100,000 dollars to ship over 15,000 books to Pristina, 5,000 to Gjakova and thousands more to Albania and Macedonia” states the talented dancer.

The ambitious Kosovar dancer continued her education in college but never stopped dancing. Ardena balanced her studies with her passion for dance. She received her bachelor degree in Leadership Development and Psychology at the University of Kentucky. At the same time she was dancing professionally at Arthur Murray, a prestigious ballroom school in Kentucky. Ardena then decided to further explore the art of dance as well as her dance abilities and thus attended the Healing Arts Academy School, where she received the National Academy of Sports Medicine diploma.

Ardena told Kosovo Diaspora that: “I began ballroom dancing at the age of six for Art Design (Jeton Vorfri) in Gjakova and have never stopped”

Ardena got married and moved to Norway where her husband lives. In Norway, she started her master’s degree at the University of Life and Science in International Development. Ardena also started teaching dancing in two different universities and dance clubs. In the summer of 2013 the talented dancer went abroad to study in Tanzania. The time in Tanzania was an eye opening experience for Ardena as she realized that she was meant to change the world through dance. Upon her return to Norway she decided to open her own studio, Argo Dance & Fitness were she put all her energy and love into training and teaching dance.

Ardena says: “Every country I lived in, worked or studied, I used dancing as a way to integrate myself in a new society. I danced salsa when I lived in Costa Rica, traditional Georgian dancing in the Republic of Georgia, swing in Norway and African tribal dancing in Tanzania. I have always believed that dancing is a basic human need and we should all have the opportunity to do it. When we dance no matter the age, gender, ethnicity, and religion, we all smile and feel joy through the common universal language of the art of body movement”

Today Ardena has several ideas and projects she wants to accomplish. She is currently organizing an action research project in Norway in order to teach partner dancing to immigrants along with the Norwegian citizens. This project will raise awareness on how the art of dance can change perceptions in terms of integration into a new culture says Ardena in the interview. The experience of her journey has proved her the positive effects of partner dancing, such as communication skills, confidence, social skills and teamwork abilities. This has led to the idea of opening her own non-profit organization where she wants to implement programs for partner dancing on an international. Ardena indicates that “Partner dancing does not only help improve the aforementioned skills but also helps break the social barriers and gender inequalities worldwide”.

When asked about how she sees the art and culture scene in Kosovo, Ardena says that: “Kosovo´s art and culture scene has proceeded forward quickly and in a positive way. As far as the dance scene, there are many who have begun their own dance schools and have weekly dance socials out in pubs in Prishtina, however this is mostly young singles. While partner dancing is growing, specifically salsa and bachata, it is not common to see women or men in relationships dance with others outside of the relationship, In fact many who began dancing for Art Design or other partner dance schools in Kosovo, by the time women and men find stabilized relationship’s they often quite dancing. However, with generations to come this mentality will change and partner dancing will become a success for the future of Kosovo. “

The Kosovar dancer expresses the importance of maintaining the traditional dances in Kosovo, while expanding and exploring other different cultures of dancing. Ardena believes that schools should make it mandatory to learn the traditional dances from an early age and from there she hopes that they also start implementing partner dances such as tango or swing, among many other genres.

“The joy of communicating through the common language of movement is powerful and it will help unite us like no other activity, therefore I encourage all to dance and let it be the therapy for your mind, body and soul“