Today begins meeting Western Balkan leaders in Tirana, Kosovo participates

Leaders of Western Balkan countries today and tomorrow will land in Tirana at the third regional meeting between these countries.

But Kosovo will not be present at this meeting.

The country's president Hashim Thaci has rejected the invitation of the host of this meeting, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

He in a Facebook post has shown some of the reasons why Kosovo should not be present at this meeting, Klan Kosova reports.

Serbia has committed genocide against the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, and today not only does it deny the crimes committed, but it continues to reject the existence of our state. In such a situation, calls and initiatives for regional co-operation are completely meaningless. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina do not recognise the state of Kosovo”.

This meeting comes after two previous meetings of this level held in Novi Sad of Serbia and in Ohrid, North Macedonia, attended by leaders and senior state representatives of Western Balkan countries, as well as senior representatives of European institutions.

Because of the same circumstances, Kosovo had refused participation in two preliminary meetings.