Foreign Minister of Montenegro, Srdjan Darmanovic, said in a visit to Kosovo that his country supports any option that would lead to normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia but that border correction “is not the best idea”.
“We see there are different concepts regarding the outcome, one of them being correction of territories. We do not interfere in internal affairs of two countries but we have some concerns over the territory correction idea. It is not the best idea but if our neighbours agree to it, we have no problem with it,” Darmanovic said at a joint press conference with his Kosovo host, Foreign Minisiter Behgjet Pacolli. He noted that Montenegro wishes the outstanding issues between Kosovo and Serbia to be resolved in the best way possible and achieve mutual recognition at the end of the process.
On the first anniversary of Kosovo ratifying border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, Darmanovic said the problem has been resolved: “We don’t see it as an open issue between the two countries.”
Pacolli on his part said the meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart focused on bilateral cooperation. “We are two countries that know how to approach cooperation and we are in the lead because there is no open issue among us,” he said.
Pacolli hailed Darmanovic’s statement that dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina should end with recognition saying this is also Kosovo’s end-goal. “Almost every country in the region suggests the same outcome and we believe therefore that Serbia will realise that its future without recognition of Kosovo is a dark one,” Pacolli said. “Serbia should not hinder neighbouring countries from following the western course and I reemphasised that Serbia and B&H should fix their broken political compass,” Pacolli added.
In Pristina, Darmanovic also met Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli.
