In an interview with Voice of America Albanian service, President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said that a final agreement with Serbia will not be possible without defining border between Kosovo and Serbia. “I have faith that our experts and those of Serbia that will also work with international advice and expertise will close this issue as any other independent and sovereign country,” he said.
Thaci said he has been impressed with meetings he had so far as part of his visit to the U.S. and that both the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton clearly underlined that the time for a comprehensive Kosovo-Serbia agreement is now and that this opportunity needs to be seized. “What I can say is that the United States of America, President Trump’s administration, strongly support the process of dialogue, negotiations and the possibility of a final agreement,” Thaci said. He said the U.S. support has now become more concrete because, as he said, things have moved forward: “My goal is to secure through this agreement… mutual Kosovo-Serbia recognition as independent and sovereign countries and provide certain and guaranteed possibility for replacing Resolution 1244 at the Security Council and Kosovo joining the UN. This is a realistic option. It is an opportunity neither Kosovo nor Serbia can lose.” Thaci said he hoped that a Kosovo negotiating team will be set up in the coming days and that there are still issues that need to be discussed such as the missing persons, displaced persons, property, rights for the Serb Orthodox Church, economic development, infrastructure, reconciliation, education, healthcare. “One thing needs to be clear though: without definition of borders there can be no final peaceful agreement that guarantees mutual recognition,” Thaci said adding that the borders will not on ethnic basis and multiethnic character of Kosovo will be maintained.
Asked about the recent tariffs the government of Kosovo imposed on products from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thaci replied that relations between Kosovo and Serbia have continuously been complicated and occasionally tense. “We will find the way to overcome this situation though better coordination with the U.S. and the EU,” he said.
