Mustafa: Friendship with U.S. depends on fulfilment of obligations (media)
Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, reported at the Kosovo government meeting today on the visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Mustafa said Kosovo will continue to have the support of the U.S. but that it needs to fulfil its obligations. “We received clear messages that Kosovo is an ally of the U.S., but that this also depends on Kosovo meeting its obligations,” Mustafa said. He also said that the U.S. wants Kosovo to establish the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. “The United States of America believe we need to implement the agreement on the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo. The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Association is an obligation for Kosovo as it was ratified by the Law on the ratification of the Principal Agreement as an international agreement … A management team will make sure that the Association is established in full compliance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court and the Principal Agreement … The United States of America believe that the issue of the border delineation with Montenegro is very clear. The U.S. State Department assessed that this delineation is in line with the border with which the U.S. recognised Kosovo’s independence. Vice President Biden was very open and concrete about our obligations to proceed with the ratification of the agreement. There were remarks that we have not done enough to inform the public about the matter and the truth is that the insistence of a small group that Kosovo is losing territory is totally untrue … The Kosovo Government will continue fostering good relations with our neighbors. We will continue the dialogue for the normalisation of relations with Serbia and we will work on establishing the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities in line with the Constitutional Court’s ruling and the First Agreement. The Kosovo Government believes that Kosovo has not lost any territory as a result of the border delineation agreement with Montenegro. We highly evaluate the commitment of the U.S. to ratify the agreement and the expertise provided by the U.S. State Department. The people of Kosovo have great and unwavering trust in the U.S., therefore, the government strongly believes that MPs will work in line with the strategies that we have built with the United States of America. Any other action is not in the interest of Kosovo and its sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Mustafa said that addressing such issues will pave way to even greater support from the U.S. for vital processes in Kosovo such as the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into the Kosovo Armed Forces.