On the World Refugee Day, the head of UNHCR in Kosovo, N.L. Narasimha Rao, invited the citizens to join events organised to mark the day in Kosovo that include open-air screening of films at the Skenderbeu square in Pristina. Rao said that at present the world is facing the highest number of refugees since World War II and that the strength and the courage of refugees need to be applauded.
Kosovo’s Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Ferid Agani met in Pristina the Minister of Local Government and Administration Ljubomir Marić, Mayor of Zveçan/Zvečan Vučina Janković, and Deputy Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Slađan Nikolčević to discuss the construction of 300 houses in the municipality of Zveçan/Zvečan known as the “Sunny Valley”. Minister Marić stressed the importance the settlement is to the resolution of problems related to sustainable returns and added that the line ministries should assist in implementation of the project.
The government of Kosovo has approved the draft law for ratification of agreement on establishing a Western Balkans Fund. Apart from Kosovo, other signatory parties to the agreement include Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj said the fund will support projects in the field of education and culture. “The creation of this Balkans fund is aimed at promoting culture in the region and deepen relations with neighbouring countries,” said Hoxhaj.
At the third joint meeting between the governments of Kosovo and Albania, Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said Albanians will become united under the European flag. He said that neither Albanians nor the Balkans can enter the EU “fragmented”. He said remarkable progress has been made in the cooperation between Kosovo and Albania since the joint meetings of the governments began two years ago. Rama also spoke about the situation of the Albanian community in the Preshevo valley.
The upcoming session of the Kosovo Assembly has been scheduled for 9 June but the anticipated border demarcation agreement with Montenegro will not be discussed at this time. Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli said they are still in the process of discussing the issue adding that it will however be put to vote “soon”. “The moment we are convinced that the interests of citizens are not undermined, we will vote on this agreement”, he said after the meeting of the Assembly presidency.
The President of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli, met today in Pristina with a delegation of the Swedish Parliament, members of the NATO Assembly, led by Bjorn von Sydow. The meeting focused on the priorities of the Kosovo Assembly with special emphasis on security issues. Veseli said: “Kosovo is determined to further peace in the region; to contribute to mutual understanding and trust and to become part of security mechanisms such as NATO”.
Kosovo’s President, Hashim Thaçi, this weekend will attend the Brdo-Brioni Leaders Process which will be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.Along the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brdo-Brioni Process initiators, presidents of Croatia and Slovenia, also leaders of Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo will attend the meeting. President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella is the guest of honour of this year’s Brdo-Brijuni Process Meeting.
Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and Association of Journalists of Serbia in Kosovo requested from the RTK board of directors to annul the decision on election of the RTK2 (channel in Serbian language) director, because the elected candidate is not meeting the criteria provided by the Law on RTK. Nikola Krstić, who was elected by the RTK board for this post, used to be deputy Mayor of Štrpce/Shtërpcë Municipality until 2015, reads UNS communique.
President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, hailed the Kosovo Assembly pro-vote to the draft law on preventing funding of terrorism. He said the law is aimed at preventing the citizens of Kosovo from joining wars in foreign territory. “The fact that not a single case of people from Kosovo joining foreign wars has been recorded in the last six months is one of the first successes of our joint efforts”, wrote Thaçi on his social media account. He stressed that Kosovo remains at the forefront of the battle against extremism and terrorism.
The Kosovo Privatisation Agency has given an ultimatum to the country’s public broadcaster, RTK, to leave the building it is using within five days, alleging that it is there illegally.