Thaci cabinet chief shows topics Kosovo will discuss at the White House

Solving economic problems, removing trade barriers, free movement of people and goods, as well as investments in regional infrastructure will be the main topics of talks between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House meeting in Washington, announced on 27 June, Kosovo President's Office officials Hashim Thaci confirm.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci's cabinet chief, and his main adviser, Bekim Colak, has already declared Kosovo's delegation's Free Europe Radio to be prepared for this meeting.

The delegation of the Republic of Kosovo comes prepared to discuss these issues, but also other issues that could be raised at the “meeting, Colak has said.

Kosovo's delegation makes up President Thaci and the country's newly elected prime minister, Avdullah Hoti. The Serbian side has yet to officially confirm who will be in its delegation.

The meeting at the White House will be held under the organisation of the White House special envoy for peace talks between Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Green, after receiving guarantees that both sides have agreed to halt the campaign to withdraw recognitions for Kosovo and stop with Kosovo's requirements for membership in international organisations. Green: June 27th, Kosovo and Serbia meet at the White House

The White House's name for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Green, announced that the governments of these two countries have agreed to meet at the White House on 27 June.

Grenelli has also said that the meeting at the White House is an opportunity to open the doors to economic development and investment, and that he hopes Kosovo and Serbian leaders will use this opportunity to return to dialogue.

Colak points out that this meeting is an extraordinary opportunity for the parties to return to negotiations to address and resolve all open issues between the two states. He has added that at this stage, the most important thing is to resume dialogue with the mediation of American President Donald Trump's special employee, Ambassador Greenell.

So, the basic positive news is that dialogue is under way in Washington after an almost two-year pause. Therefore, this meeting is considered a success in itself despite the concrete” result, Colak said.

Green himself, on June 15th, through a writing in Titter, has ordered that if any party is going to be counterproductive with the June 27th talks, ʹmay return to the status quo, after leaving Washington”.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, on Sunday, has stated that in terms of the Kosovo issue, he expects „days and difficult weeks“.

The dialogue on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which the European Union is mediating, was interrupted in November 2018, as Kosovo had imposed a 100 per cent tax on Serbia's goods in response to the Serbian state's campaign towards Kosovo independence.

Taksa, which Ramush Haradinaj's government had decided, replaced with reciprocal trade measures by former Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on 1 April.

The United States of America was against imposing measures on Serbia, primarily because, as they had stressed, they contained the dialogue between the two sides. With Kurt's going and Hoti's coming to the top of the government, all trade barriers have been removed, and thus has been given the chance to return to the negotiating table.

Grenelli has already warned of the meeting between Kosovo and Serbia delegations, on the eve of coming to Kosovo by the special representative of the European Union, Miroslav Lajcak, who is also working for the reconstruction of dialogue.

After meeting with Kosovo leaders, Lajcak has declared that he hopes for the quick continuation of the EU-brokered dialogue and for reaching the final agreement between the two sides.

However, he has ordered that the European integration route for Kosovo runs through EU-mediated dialogue and that there is no one on that path but the EU to progress with.

Lajcak has also acknowledged that the EU has not been consulted about the meeting at the White House and that even despite the fact that the US is an important partner for the EU, Kosovo no one can offer European future except the EU.

Colak also points out that the European Union's role in the process is irreplaceable, as is the role of the United States of America.

According to him, the EU and the US have fulfilled each other in this process since its beginning in 2011. It has demonstrated conviction that this will also be in the final phase of the dialogue.

“Binom between the US and the EU has been, is and will be the key to any agreement in the Western Balkans, and especially in terms of reaching the final eventual agreement between Kosovo and Serbia”, Colak stressed.

On the other hand, Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has confirmed on Saturday that the meeting in Washington will be for economic projects, which will turn Kosovo “into the centre of economic activities in the region”. He has added that his cabinet is looking into ideas about several infrastructure projects that could be introduced in Washington.

Hoti, on June 10th, has submitted the platform for dialogue, under which no territorial integrity and constitutional organisation of the state will be discussed, as well as that the final agreement, which should contribute to mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia, should be in line with the Kosovo Constitution.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq last week, at a conference with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov, has said Serbia “will not recognise Kosovo's independence or its membership in the United Nations in exchange for Serbia's membership in the European Union”.