Students from Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Germany and Kosovo participated in the third Annual Western Balkans Vis Pre-Moot Competition which took place last weekend in Pristina.

This important competition was kicked off at a reception hosted by the organizers on Thursday, February 23^rd, where USAID Kosovo Acting Mission Director, Mike de la Rosa, along with Arian Zeka Executive Director of AmCham, Kujtim Kerveshi, Director of Judex Law Firm, and Arber Rreci, General Secretary of the Iliria College in their remarks spoke about the importance of this competition.

During the Pre-Moot, teams from universities across the region competed against each other in a series of rounds which were judged by practicing lawyers and arbitrators, many of whom are Vis alumni. In addition to providing a forum for students to hone their practical legal skills, the Pre-Moot facilitated a cross-cultural exchange between law students from the Western Balkans and Europe. The Pre-Moot also contributed towards increasing awareness regarding the availability of arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism that is faster and cheaper than the courts, benefiting the legal and business communities.

USAID has supported the competition through Contract Law Enforcement, a project designed to assist Kosovo institutions to improve the enforcement of civil judgments, while dramatically reducing the backlog of enforcement cases in the Kosovo court system. This approach helps the country develop and strengthen its contract and commercial law framework and systems, including for bankruptcy and mediation, thus improving the business environment needed to attract investment.