Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on Monday, declaring Japan’s continued support for stability in the Balkan region, which has a history of ethnic conflict.
“The stability and development of Kosovo, the youngest nation in the area, is key to stability in the Balkans,” Abe told a joint press conference following his summit with Thaci in Tokyo, expressing Japan’s intention to keep offering economic assistance to the country, which declared statehood in 2008.
Thaci said Kosovo, which agreed last year with neighboring Serbia to improve relations, will seek peace and stability by overcoming the history of ethnic conflict during the 1990s amid the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Abe also said Japan will endorse Kosovo’s efforts to join the European Union.
Thaci was making his second visit to Japan, following one in 2012.
