The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said that today’s meeting with the Vice-President of the United States of America, Mike Pence, will mark a new phase of the bilateral relations.

He said that he will request at the meeting with Pence direct involvement of the U.S. in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. “I will have a meeting at the White House with Vice-President Pence, and I will request continuance of the U.S. support on strengthening international position for economic development of Kosovo and Euro-Atlantic integration,” Thaci said. He added that over 95 percent of Kosovans are for integration in Euro-Atlantic structures.

Speaking about his meeting with Pope Francis, Thaci said that he has requested from the Pope Vatican’s recognition of Kosovo. He noted that he has invited Pope Francis to visit Kosovo and added that he has received Vatican’s support to have peace and cooperation of Kosovo with the countries of the region.