Begaj: Kosovo-Serbia agreement with mutual recognition guarantees peace in Balkans

The president of the Republic of Albania, Bajram Begaj, has received his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, with high state honours Thursday.

At the joint conference for media, Begaj, among other things, thanked the Italian president for the support the Italian state has given for Kosovo on security issues, visa liberalisation, Council of Europe membership and dialogue with Serbia.

The latter, according to him, should result in mutual recognition and Kosovo's membership in the UN and the EU.

“We value as very important for the stability of the region the presence of KFOR in Kosovo as a presence reflecting peace and stability. I thanked President Mattella for the support the Italian state has given to Kosovo and stressed the importance of continuing this support, especially for security issues, visa liberalisation, that of Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe and continuing dialogue with Serbia. Albania supports the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue and believes the resolution formula expressed by President Biden and Chancellor Schelz, such as the <x1-> comprehensive agreement on normalising relations”, resulting in mutual recognition and Kosovo's membership in the UN and the EU, is the right solution to ensuring lasting peace in the Balkans”, he said.

While Italian President Sergio Mattella said that without Western Balkan countries, the European Union is not complete.

“E have been received with great satisfaction, achieving the historic journey for opening Albania's negotiations. The EU narrowly managed to pass and fulfil its pledge to Albanians. Countries like Italy have supported the opening of Albania's negotiations with the EU and we hope that this will move quickly with EU membership ... We know that Albania's future is in the EU. Without Western Balkan countries, the EU is not complete”, he said. / KP