The Principal Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hashim Thaci, concluded his official visit to the Great Britain and traveled today to Paris, France to meet the delegates of the UNESCO Executive Council member countries. Thaci informed about his visit on his Facebook account: “I came to Paris to meet and coordinate with the delegates of the majority of the UNESCO member countries. Lobbying for Kosovo’s membership at UNESCO remains priority of Kosovo’s diplomacy.”

Kosovo’s European Integration Minister, Bekim Collaku, said today that Kosovo has met all the visa liberalization criteria and that it expects the European Union to recommend the visa liberalization for Kosovo citizens and to sign the Stabilization/Association Agreement. Collaku made these remarks after meeting the French Ambassador to Kosovo Maryse Daviet. Collaku and Daviet discussed Kosovo’s request to become a member of the UNESCO, and Daviet reconfirmed France’s support in this respect.

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has sent a letter on Tuesday to Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, warning that the acceptance of Kosovo's membership bid would endanger the Christian cultural heritage and the Serbs' religious and human rights.

In the letter signed by Patriarch Irinej, the Synod points out that the OSCE has documented systematic post-war destruction of at least 392 Serbian Orthodox cemeteries in Kosovo, which are still in deplorable condition.

Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, told Radio Free Europe that Kosovo’s eventual membership in UNESCO would bring many benefits, but responsibilities as well. Selimi said that Kosovo with a very young population, needs assistance and reforms in the education sector, and UNESCO is the one dealing with the issue of reforms, standardization and exchange of educational programs.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contacted the countries that support Kosovo's accession to UNESCO. Decision of the Executive Committee on the eventual membership will be made after 20 October.

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic sent a protest letter to the 44 countries, which have supported the Kosovo's request that the Executive Board of UNESCO discuss accession of Kosovo into this organization, learns Novosti.

I am very happy because of the great global support we have received since the beginning of this process. We started in January with our positive information campaign, focused on Kosovo's needs related to education, science, climate change, culture.

Kosovo’s second bid to join UNESCO, the result of an official request last week from Albania for the former Serbian province’s admission to UNESCO, is expected to be strongly contested by Belgrade.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-s-membership-to-unesco-possible-09-14-2015

Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi is visiting the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Selimi met with the OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani and a team of OIC experts, and briefed them on the lobbying campaign for Kosovo’s membership of the UNESCO. The OIC Secretary General promised the full commitment of his organization in support of Kosovo’s membership of the UNESCO.

Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi said in an interview for Radio Free Europe that Kosovo has created a powerful lobbying group for membership in the UNESCO. Selimi, who visited the Holy See on Tuesday, said the main topic of discussion there was Kosovo’s membership in the UNESCO. He mentioned Serbia’s negative discourse against Kosovo’s membership and highlighted a recent statement by Serbia’s ambassador to the UNESCO, Darko Tanaskovic.

Albania has voted in favour of raising the Palestinian flag outside the UN Headquarters in New York even though the US opposed the motion to allow nonmember observer states to raise their flags. Albania’s vote is believed to have been driven by Kosovo’s application for UNESCO membership as Tirana doesn’t want to cause sentiments against Kosovo with the Islamic countries ate a time when efforts to win as many votes as possible are well underway. Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama has informed President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga of the move.