“Mini-Shengen meeting in Tirana continues today

The three Balkan leaders -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq and Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev -- have had a meeting during yesterday.

They will also have some activities during today.

According to the previous agenda, three Balkan leaders are expected to visit countries affected by the 26 October earthquake

Then, at 10: 00 p.m., the leadership session “) will take place. At 12: 00 p.m., it will follow with the Plenare Seanca with delegation participation, until 1:15 hours of activities end with the joint media conference.

But Kosovo is not 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.

Otherwise, at these meetings where three leaders of Western Balkan countries were present, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq and Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev dealt with the Balkan Mini-Shengen initiative.