Three Kosovo-Serbia economic agreements expected to be concrete in Washington

The chief of the dictatorship of these areas, Minister of Infrastructure Arban Abrashi, says all indicators point to the letters of good purpose being made at the September meeting between Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq.

“I hope that yes, the first indicators, including the meeting that was supposed to be in June, have been that the meeting will be overly inter-connected with the economy, as we develop the Balkan economy. What more can be done for people to interact economically more so that political tensions can be reduced. Our proposals have been some, including these two, railways and highways for Merdare, then continuing anyway. So I hope that even at the September meeting at the table these projects will be both co-financed and borrowing. So the government of Kosovo is willing to take even loans to finance these vital projects. But also co-finance if there is such will. That's why these projects cannot be said in full that they will be realised, but there are all the indicators that we will encounter in consensus and such projects will be presented there”, he says.

In addition to the minister, the concreteisation of economic ties with Serbia sees university professor of economic affairs Muhamet Sadiku, who says the idea must be empowered for under US sponsorship to reach these agreements.

Several initiatives are shown under US sponsorship, especially for air connection, infrastructure for other economic ties that are of great importance to economic life in the Western Balkans. It is true that nothing has happened so far, but I believe that at the next meeting in the United States on both sides, under US fashion, these agreements have to be made a reality. Especially the start of the airline between Pristina and Belgrade and Kosovo and Serbia, respectively, and the start of establishing other ties, such as the case with such railways, require considerable investment. So I believe that within these talks this agenda will be strengthened even more, he says.

Meanwhile, Violet Hajoli from KDI says the letters of good intentions should be transformed into concrete actions.

The “goals that have been normally achieved in concrete actions on the part of Kosovo and Serbia, so that there is an effort to achieve that much-time normalisation”, he said.

After a meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq in early September will meet in Washington in the dialogue envoy's mediation, Richard Greene. Until a meeting at the U.S. Chief Centre in June has been cancelled following a proposal for war crimes against the president, Hashim Thaci.