• Kurti meets Sobotka, emphasizes importance of implementing the Basic Agreement without conditions (media)
• At the Vienna Economic Forum, Kosovo is considered a functional state with a vibrant economy (Koha)
• USAID chief Power heads to Serbia, Kosovo to lower tensions (Associated Press)
• Croatia’s Foreign Minister visits Kosovo, today he meets with Grvalla and Kurti (RTK)
• What is next in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue? Mediators visit expected this month (euronews.al)
• Hoti: Government’s decisions of the past two years are typical of communist systems (Reporteri)
• Kamberi: Self-management also for Albanians in Serbia (media)
• Postcard Collection Creates Vivid Picture of Bygone Era in Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)

Kurti meets Sobotka, emphasizes importance of implementing the Basic Agreement without conditions (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti welcomed on Monday Wolfgang Sobotka to his first official visit as Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Austria.

“They also discussed the areas in which, in addition to the will, there is also the potential for even deeper cooperation such as the economy, trade exchanges, environment and infrastructure projects. Regarding cooperation in the field of foreign policy, Mr. Sobotka confirmed the continuation of Austria’s support to Kosovo in the Council of Europe until its full membership,” the press release issued by the Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo states.

Prime Minister Kurti and President Sobotka reportedly also spoke about the dialogue process and relations between Kosovo and Serbia, with a focus on last week’s meeting in Brussels and the Basic Agreement and the Implementation Plan according to the agreements in Brussels and Ohrid.

“On this occasion, Prime Minister Kurti emphasized the contribution and constructive engagement of Kosovo in all meetings and throughout the entire process, as well as the importance that the Basic Agreement, which derives from the European proposal, with the direct involvement of France, Germany and Italy, be implemented complete, without delays and without conditions,” the communiqué continues. 

At the Vienna Economic Forum, Kosovo is considered a functional state with a vibrant economy (Koha) 

Under the patronage of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the Vienna Economic Forum organized the “Vienna Economic Talks – Prishtina 2023” conference in Kosovo on Monday.

Viktor Jackovich, chairman of the Vienna Economic Forum, said that Kosovo is an integral part of Europe and that, as a small country, it often has to face external pressures.

“There are many challenges you face, I would say pressure from many different countries, from Washington, from Brussels, from Belgrade, from everywhere. Perhaps this is the fate of a small country. Because you have a democracy and you have the support of your people and a democratically elected government, you are able to face these challenges and overcome them,” Jackovich said.

Elena Kirtcheva, member of the board and general secretary of the Forum, said that the goal is the consolidation of the region.

“We have to look ahead, prioritizing the consolidation of the region. This is the main purpose of an economic forum, to have consolidation because the region needs Europe, but let me say that Europe needs the region as well,” she said.

In this conference, Prime Minister Albin Kurti was the main speaker. He spoke about the progress, according to him, in the field of the economy and the rule of law.

He also received an award from this Forum for excellent cooperation and contribution to economic development at the national and regional level.

“We have also strengthened our bridges with our Western Balkan neighbors. I think this effort is best represented not by numbers, but by countless meetings. I had the pleasure of being part of the country where we share challenges, victories and visions with each other, while I mentioned the achievements of the past, I am even more enthusiastic about those of the future,” Kurti said. 

Kosovo has been part of the Vienna Economic Forum for 15 years now.

USAID chief Power heads to Serbia, Kosovo to lower tensions (Associated Press)

The United States’ top international development chief, Samantha Power, is heading to Serbia and Kosovo this week to meet with leaders there, as U.S. and European leaders work to stabilize relations between those two former wartime enemies at a time of heightened tensions.

Power becomes the first head of the U.S. Agency for International Development to travel to Serbia, which maintains close historical and cultural ties with Russia.

Serbia and Kosovo have remained on often hostile terms since Kosovo’s 1990s split from Serbia at the end of the Cold War. Frictions between Serbia and Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority and an ethnic Serb minority, have rebounded in the general tensions since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Power is to meet with the prime ministers and presidents of both countries, encouraging both to stay on a path of normalizing relations between themselves and to keep moving towards membership in the European Union.

She “will underscore USAID’s support for Serbia’s path to European Union accession through our partnership to foster economic growth and democratic development,” the USAID said in a statement.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/42gfAvq

 Croatia’s Foreign Minister visits Kosovo, today he will meet Gervalla and Kurti (RTK)

The Foreign Minister of Croatia Gordan Grlic Radman has arrived last night to Kosovo  for an official visit. Today, he will be welcomed at the meeting by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gervalla.

After the meeting, there will be a press conference. In addition to Gervalla, Radman will also meet with the Prime Minister of the country, Albin Kurti. The meeting will take place in the building of the Government of Kosovo, starting at 16:15 hours.

What is next in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue? Mediators visit expected this month (euronews.al) 

Within this month, European and American mediators are expected to arrive in Kosovo and Serbia, for a new round of negotiations regarding the Association of Serb Municipalities, as well as a comprehensive implementation of the Agreement between both countries. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti gave the news, while saying he has been guaranteed in Brussel that the European plan will be fully implemented.

“In the meeting, we confirmed that the agreement is functional, that the text of the agreement remains unchangeable and unnegotiable and must be implemented without delays. This guarantee of the European mediators is surely necessary for a solid dialogue process,” Kurti told journalists.

He also spoke about the dismissal of the Management Team on the draft statute of the Association.

“They finished their mission and function, so we have no reasons to hear from them. The Team said everything they had to say on the May 2nd meeting in Brussel. I believe it is clear to everybody that the Team’s job is over, so the dismissal is the most logical thing,” said Kurti.

This act sparked a lot of debates. Petar Petkovic, the Director of the Office for Kosovo reminded that the Team’s mandate lasts until the end of the creation process of the Association. The Serbian official said that Kurti has “no legal arguments to unilaterally dismiss that body”.

“The fact that he doesn’t like the draft statute of the Association is a personal problem of his. The mandate of the Managing Team is active and valid and it was confirmed even by EU representatives,” said Petkovic.

According to him, even the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell emphasized that the EU will continue to invite the Managing Team in meetings, if need be.

Hoti: Government’s decisions of the past two years are typical of communist systems (Reporteri)

Former Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, currently MP of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), has criticized the Draft Law for the establishment of the Sovereign Fund. He said that this draft law tells us about the government’s economic system, which, according to him, has failed.

“The draft law for the establishment of the Sovereign Fund represents a concrete step towards establishing a command economy, which system has failed,” Hoti wrote on Facebook.

“Finally, these leftists are getting the courage to show what economic system they are for — they are for a command economy with elements of communism,” he added.

“The decisions of the past two years are typical of communist systems: the reduction of wages, the law on maximum prices, the decision to set profit margins, the tendency for the nationalization of the Chamber of Commerce, the taking of the municipalities’ own revenues and so on,” Hoti wrote.

LDK MP, Hykmete Bajrami, has warned that they will send the law on the Sovereign Fund to the Constitutional Court.

Kamberi: Self-management also for Albanians in Serbia (media)

Shaip Kamberi, the Albanian MP in the Serbian parliament, emphasized that the solution for the Association of the Serb-majority municipalities should be sought within the framework of the Constitution of Kosovo.

He said that construction of higher standards than those of the EU itself for minorities should never be allowed, and neither situation when these unique standards would only be valid to a single community in the Western Balkans.

He emphasized that their position is known: “Reciprocity is required and that any kind of right given to the Serbs be in symmetry with the rights given to the Albanian community in the Valley.”

Postcard Collection Creates Vivid Picture of Bygone Era in Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)

Based on a collection of Kosovo postcards from the last century, Kenneth Andresen has launched a research project on this means of communication that bears witness to the country’s history.

Kenneth Andresen, a professor in media production and media studies at the University of Agder in Norway, collects old postcards from Kosovo which tell about the history of the country during the last century.

These pictures show an image of the former Yugoslavian province very different from the one of a country at war that is common nowadays.

One example is this postcard from August 1967 showing children bathing in the Ibër/Ibar in Mitrovica: “In the 1960s and 1970s, there was much more freedom of crossing, not that [ethnic] tension,” Andresen said. ”The river was also much cleaner back then.”

Read more at: https://bit.ly/41iYvzs