All that happened yesterday at the White House.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, attended the signing ceremony.

The agreement was signed in the presence of US President Donald Trump.

Trump said this is “a very important and historical day”.

He added that even after the history of violence and failed negotiations, his administration has made a “great progress in dialogue and that “nobody has thought this would be possible”.

Trump, also, said he hopes “will go to both countries in a not so distant future” and that he is “krear for the two leaders”.

“A remarkable bravery was needed by Serbia's president, Vuciq, and Kosovo Prime Minister Horti to start these talks and come to Washington to complete these pledges. In doing so, they have made their countries, the Balkans, and the world safer”, Trump said.

Trump also said that Kosovo and Israel have agreed to normalise reports and establish diplomatic relations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah has also talked about establishing diplomatic relations with Kosovo. He has said that “Kosovo has agreed to open embassy in Israel, namely in Jerusalem”.

The agreement follows discussions between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia that took place during Thursday's White House Day with the mediation of White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, and US President Special Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue Richard Green.

The agreement reached at the White House envisions economic co-operation between the two countries. The sides have pledged to implement a series of already reached agreements, such as the one for the highway between Kosovo and Serbia, the one for railways and airlines. Also, it is envisioned that Kosovo and Serbia accelerate efforts to locate and identify the remains of missing persons.
Under the agreement, Kosovo and Serbia will join “the mini-Schengen area”, which was created in 2019 and which already participate, Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia.

Kosovo, under the agreement, has also agreed that within a year it will not seek membership in international organisations. Serbia, on the other hand, has also agreed that within a year it will stop the campaign to recognise Kosovo's independence.

Report normalisation starts with air, railway and road transport

As for Lake Weyman, the deal reportedly states that the parties will work with the US Energy Department for a feasibility study, with the aim of joint use of this lake, as a reliable supplier of water and energy.

Under the agreement, Kosovo will join “the mini-Schengen area”, which was created in 2019 and which already participate, Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, after signing the agreement in Washington, at a news conference said the signed agreement is a major step towards normalising reports between Kosovo and Serbia.

“This is an agreement that is a major step towards the full normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia that will be finalised with mutual recognition between the two countries. Good news has always come from the White House”, Hoti said.

He said the main elements of the agreement concern large infrastructure projects.

I have great expectations that these projects, as I have always said, will change the economic landscape in Kosovo and the region. I am convinced that the railway project, the highway project, the railway that then takes out at the Adriatic Port, the gas coming from Northern Macedonia, will make Kosovo a three-to five-year major centre at the level of the region”, Hoti said.

Hoti said that more than 1 billion euros will be invested in the implementation of projects.

He said they have received pledges from the US that the policies of the US itself will apply to the implementation of projects, for example, to regulation of the telecommunication market or to religious or individual rights.

“We are required for a year to be without membership in international organisations, not new recognitions. Meanwhile, Serbia has been obliged for a year to stop any campaign against Kosovo membership in international organisations and against new recognitions of Kosovo. Israel's own recognition today, I believe, is a clear sign of the determination of President Trump and his administration to advance the final project of consolidating Kosovo's citizenship”, Hoti said.

Hoti has indicated that there has been a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Netanyah for the recognition of Kosovo by Israel.

“I just finished a call with Prime Minister Netanyyah and agreed that as soon as we get an embassy in the state of Israel”, Hoti said.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, said a bilateral agreement has been reached between Serbia and the United States of America at the White House and that the third side, Kosovo, “has not been recognised”.

Vuciq told reporters after signing the economic agreement in the White House that he is grateful to US President Donald Trump.

“We have had a brilliant bilateral conversation and this is a big deal for Serbia and for me personally. We agreed on good things for our country. We have nothing to fear” said Vuciq.

“What's important to us is that through bilateral agreement, relations with one of the world's largest powers (SHBA) is the direct determination to deal with economics and certain political issues, but that are not painful for our country”, Vuciq said.

Serbia's president said the agreement contains 16 points, but they are not similar for both Kosovo and Serbia.

Vuciq said he has agreed to open the US Development Fund office in Belgrade, meaning, as he said, a strong signal to credit agencies and investors.

The “Americans will monitor important projects with us, such as building the highway to Pristina. We agreed on how to build the railway and how to connect Pristina with central Serbia through Merdare (border crossing)”, Vuciq said.

At a media conference held at the White House, following the signing of the agreement on normalising economic relations, National Security Council and the host of the two-day meeting Robert O'Brien said that Serbia and Kosovo for years have been trapped in one country and cannot move, while the White House has done something that is extraordinary.

Asked by journalists for the duration of the campaign's suspension for recognition by Kosovo and for attracting recognitions from Serbia, O'Brien said he thinks this “will be the one-year-old march” to give parties space to discuss a range of political issues, within the Brussels dialogue.

There are many issues to be discussed. Our European partners will provide support to many political issues, membership in the European Union, mutual recognition. There are many issues that will be addressed by representatives of Serbia and Kosovo. We will support the Europeans in handling these issues”, O'Brien said.

At the same conference, the US president's special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Green, said that the deal has been long worked on and that it has been a difficult process.

“The politics was stuck. Everyone knows that. For decades, there have been negotiations and disputes over the same things, the same words. It was a nightmare”, Grenelli said, adding that President Trump has suggested to them “that if they're arguing about everything political, let's try something else”.

Green said that's why they first approach economic issues.

“If we had done a typical political thing, we would not have had this agreement,” noted Greenell, praising that the agreement reached would push both economies and the entire region forward.

While President Trump's adviser, at once his son-in-law, said the agreement marked a new chapter that this amdinists have made to make the world safer.

The European Union says it pays attention to signing the document between Belgrade and Pristina at the White House.

“We welcome the parties in Brussels this weekend and next week to continue our work in a comprehensive agreement on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which concerns all outstanding issues regarding their relations, and in accordance with international law and that of the EU “, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the High Representative for Foreign Policy in the European Union, Josep Borrell.

Signing the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House has welcomed Kosovo's president, Hashim Thaci.

<x) I thank the Special Emissar, Ambassador Green, once again for his huge commitment to this process to be productive, efficient, and I believe implemented”, wrote Thaci on the social Facebook network.

He has also said that Kosovo will now continue to work on economic development, job creation, and further consolidation on the domestic and international plains.

Even the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, has welcomed the deal reached at the White House in Washington between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia, with the mediation of the United States of America.

Kosovo is blessed with friendship with the United States. This was confirmed once again today, with the signing of the negotiated agreement under the direction of the White House. As LDK chairman, I would like to thank the United States of America and especially President Trump for his commitment to reaching the” agreement, Mustafa wrote on his Facebook profile.

He has even praised Prime Minister Hoti and the Government of Kosovo for, as he has named this “achievement in the interest of the Republic of Kosovo”.

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Chairman Ramush Haradinaj said he welcomes the agreement signed at the White House, between Kosovo and Serbia, as, according to him, the question of Lake Wejman is not included.

Real friends always understand the right concern. Happy that our concerns at the contesting point for Weiman have reflected in the signed” Agreement, Haradinaj wrote on the social Facebook network.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has named the meeting and agreement reached at the White House between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia as the lost chance by the Kosovo delegation for final agreement on bilateral recognition between Kosovo and Serbia.

Any agreement signed in this way, without transparency, which has no mutual recognition, creates concern and uncertainty. Even more, by this moment, the content of the” agreement has not been made public, said a PDK communique published on Facebook.

Even the Vetevendosje Movement has criticised the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House.

The “E called the historic agreement for recognition, while giving up Kosovo's independence and brought us harmful agreements and contrary to Constitution”, wrote Vetevendosje member Albulen Hadziu on the social Facebook network.

Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, has welcomed the agreement for economic normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia, reached at the White House.

Rama has said this agreement is continuing the path to “final recognition”.

Albania's prime minister, Rama, has stressed that reaching agreement between Kosovo and Serbia does not present an act of “treachery”.

A step towards stabilising the region has named the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House, Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic.

In his Twitter account, Djukanovic has said that “Montenegro welcomes the confirmation of the orientation of Serbia and Kosovo, which through the agreement signed today for normalising economic relations in Washington, is heading towards a sustainable solution under the dialogue leading by the EU”.

The meeting, which was held at the White House, is the second one called by Washington. The meeting, scheduled for June 27th, had been cancelled a few days before the detention, since The Hague's Specialised Prosecutor's Office had declared it has submitted a draft indictment for war crimes against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who was invited to the Washington meeting. Thaci has not attended Friday's meeting.

Under the mediation of the US president's special envoy for Kosovo-Serbia talks, Richard Green, both countries, in January and February of this year, have signed agreements or letters of interest for the airline, the railway and for highways between Pristina and Belgrade, which have not yet started to be implemented.

The signing of these interest letters was made at a time when dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, facilitated by the European Union, was suspended, as a result of a Kosovo Government decision to impose a 100 per cent customs tax on products originating from Serbia.

Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has resumed in Brussels on 16 July. / REL