Kosovo’s foreign minister Enver Hoxhaj said Wednesday he will attend a regional conference in Belgrade in his first such visit since the territory unilaterally seceded from Serbia in 2008.
“This visit is an indicator of the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia as two independent and sovereign states,” Hoxhaj said in a statement.
While refusing to recognise the independence of its former southern province, Serbia has agreed to improve relations with Kosovo for the sake of its integration into the EU.
More than 100 countries, including the United States and most EU member nations, have recognised Kosovo as an independent state.
Following the 1998-99 war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas, a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to leave Kosovo and lose control over the territory.
The former foes agreed to normalise relations in April 2013 after EU-mediated talks.
Thursday’s conference in Belgrade is described as an informal meeting of the foreign and economy ministers of the western Balkans on economic governance and cooperation.
EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele and commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Jyrki Katainen will also attend the conference, the Serbian foreign ministry said in a statement, without elaborating on the other participants.
