The concluding event of the 10th Call of the National Internship Program was held today, an opportunity offered to all young people aged 21 to 29 who have graduated from a first-cycle Bachelor program or a second-cycle Master program.
This Program, which for 10 years has been turning experience into employment, offers concrete opportunities for all young people in this age group who want to take their first steps toward a career in the Public Administration.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was present at the meeting with the young participants, stated that the program has permanently employed around 1,600 people in the state administration, giving the best among them the opportunity to build a perspective as new public servants.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama:
It is a great pleasure to see you here in this palace, where every time we hold this meeting, which has become a traditional meeting with the young women and men who do internships, it becomes more beautiful and carries a more positive energy.
First, I want to wish success to those who have earned the opportunity to have a one-year employment contract and to continue aiming to become permanently part of the public administration. Meanwhile, to those who did not gain this opportunity, I want to say that they should not be discouraged, they should not lose confidence, and they should not give up.
The Minister said that this is a process that goes through merit, but without wanting to claim that everything in this process is flawless, because like any other process, it certainly has its own shortcomings, which we try to address year after year. Keep in mind that even the assessment of merit, if it is an assessment, is still carried out by people, and therefore also has its subjective side.
So, without questioning the fact that those who have earned the opportunity to continue with a one-year contract deserve this opportunity, I want to tell those who did not earn it not to feel excluded and not to think that they are less capable. Simply, at a given moment, they could not stand out as clearly better than others who succeeded.
Considering the positive feedback from those who organize this program regarding your impressions, and at the same time having a positive impression from ministers and heads of institutions about your approach, seriousness, and desire to learn, I have truly become a strong believer in this program. Keep in mind that this program has permanently employed around 1,600 people in the state administration.
If you consider that the public administration itself is not a very large body, these numbers are not small. What makes these numbers even more important is that they represent 1,600 quality human resources who have the potential to continuously develop and who have the potential capacity to become tomorrow’s sector heads, department heads, directorate heads, and so on.
This internship has served as a bridge initially built with the university to give the best the opportunity to have a waiting hall where they can actively present themselves as new public servants. On the other hand, I believe that through this program we have now overcome a bottleneck, the bottleneck of experience, which in the past has prevented many young women and men from winning civil service competitions due to lack of experience, because to enter the public administration you needed experience, but if you did not enter the public administration, you had nowhere to gain that experience. In a way, the program has guaranteed this transition.
I believe that those who spoke in the agency’s promotional videos were sincere, and I also believe that your presence here today, not small, shows that you are satisfied with the program, and this is something very good.
On the other hand, I believe that the agency should conduct a survey of all of you now that the program has ended, to collect your opinions in a confidential and anonymous way. What you liked, what you did not like, what you think should be done better, and so on, because this would help us further improve the program.
In conclusion, I want to speak to you about a major project that the government is implementing together with the European Commission, which is the Youth Guarantee project. It is a project that aims to identify and activate young people who have potential but are not active in seeking ways to bring out the best in themselves. Its purpose is to offer financial support, to offer training, and to offer vocational skills development for young people. It aims to ensure concrete employment opportunities, to ensure the continuation of professional training and internships, and certainly to strengthen the participation of young people in the social and economic life of the community.
I would very kindly suggest that you familiarize yourselves with this project. It is also financially substantial. It is around 65 million euros, if I am not mistaken, and you should see how you can engage with this project. And I repeat, while you have one-year contracts to sign in order to continue the process, do everything you can to build skills beyond what the working hours provide, because more and more, quality human resources will be a necessity for everyone, and less and less will other influences be able to affect the point of denying quality human resources the opportunity to contribute to society.
To the others, I say continue making your efforts. There are other paths, there are other competitions. The Director General of Public Administration is also here, and we are also carrying out another reformation of the legislation for public administration to create more flexibility and more opportunities. With the conviction that this is the right path, and with the proof that the results of this internship program within ministries and institutions have been very encouraging, we will continue to push forward the agenda of attracting the best resources coming from universities, the best resources that are active in society and that belong to your social group, young women and young men.
Thank you very much, and I would like to especially thank the two young women who are highly engaged and who are successfully handling the moderation of this event. Leaving the floor to them, I sincerely wish you success, confidence, and never give up on your dreams.