Thaci: Without demarcation of borders, no agreement with Serbia was the order of Pompeii and Bolton

President Thaci is continuing his official visit to Washington during which he met with two senior officials of the administration of President Trump, National Security Adviser John Bolton and State Secretary Mike Pompeii.

State Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Bolton, at meetings with President Thaci, stressed that the time is now, for Kosovo and Serbia to seize the opportunity that has been created for reaching a historic agreement.

While in Washington, President Thaci no longer mentioned “correction of borders”, but stressed that without the demarcation of the border there can be no agreement.

I am extremely satisfied and impressed, in the meetings I have held with Pompeii and the Bolton Councilman. Both have clearly stressed that now is the time of reaching agreement with Serbia and that this moment should be used to the utmost extent by leaders in Kosovo and Serbia, under the leadership of the European Union and US support for a peaceful agreement to be reached. I can say that the US and Trump strongly support dialogue, negotiations and reaching a final agreement with Serbia. It is a more concrete support, as we are in the final steps of the agreement. We aim to make mutual recognition of Kosovo happen ) as independent countries and to open the safe opportunity for the replacement of Resolution 1244 to the Security Council and UN membership. It is an extraordinary opportunity for the consolidation of our state in the” international arena, Thaci said during the interview.

He has said the agreement with Serbia will be comprehensive and that the coming days hope the negotiating team will be established by Kosovo.

The Agreement will be comprehensive. The missing, infrastructure normalisation of reconciliation between countries, health and many other topics will be discussed. But without definition of borders, there may be final agreements guaranteeing recognition. Professional teams will work on demarcation of the border line, but there will be no borders on ethnic grounds. It's a risk to lose them for decades, and its consequences are to future generations. The whole process will be transparent. There is no point in any agreement unless recognition occurs, and Kosovo's membership in the UN. Any other agreement will have no effect. From meetings with Pope and Bolton, I see there is a global mood to complete this process. This will has been missing earlier from Serbia, so there must be agreements that definitely bring recognition of Kosovo”, Thaci said further.

He said Serbia cannot even move towards EU integration without good neighbours.

Serbia benefits access to EU membership. Without good neighborhoods we cannot move in the future towards European integration. We invite the political spectrum in Kosovo to join, because that's how we will stand up to Serbia. It is easy with the critic, being skeptical, and it is harder to take responsibility. If we agree with Serbia and reach agreement, then well, if not then we go back to Pristina together, and we pay the price together. Kosovo reports, Serbia, have been constantly complicated and tense. I believe that in an internal dialogue, we will also overcome the tax situation. I have presented and firmly defended the achievement of an agreement between the two countries, but I repeat, there can be no mutual recognition, without definition of the” border, Thaci concluded.. / P ERISCOPIA