Kurti visited Oslo six months ago, but Kosovo is being irrelevant to Norway

The Norwegian state has announced it will close its embassy in Pristina.

Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that by 2023, the Norwegian diplomatic mission will be closed in Kosovo, and diplomatic relations will be carried to an embassy that is closer.

It's never easy to decide to shut down Norwegian missions. The closures like these affect the lives of Norwegian diplomats posted and have even greater consequences for staff employees in the country. But we have a responsibility to use our resources in a way that enables us to defend Norwegian interests as effectively as possible”, said the chief diplomat Huitfeldt.

Norway's “diplomatic relations with Kosovo, Madagascar, Slovakia and Sri Lanka will be addressed through alternative agreements, for example, responsibility for this will be granted to a nearby Norwegian embassy, or a Norwegian-based ambassador will be named for the country in question”, the newspaper Insander writes.

This move against Kosovo by the Norwegian state came only six months after Prime Minister Albin Kurti's official visit to Oslo.

What happened there?

In late March, specifically, the prime minister and Defence Minister, Armend Mehaj, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Edona Maloku Brdyna and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Lisa Gashi were on their way

During this visit, Kurt would meet with Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stére and other senior Norwegian government officials.

The following day, on March 29th, there had been a meeting between two counterparts -- the Kosovo and Norwegian ones.

But what was discussed?

The two governments -- Kosovo and Norway -- had issued communiques on topics that were discussed during Tuesday's March meeting.

The news was that reports of the official meeting provided a different description of what counterparts had talked about.

While the Kosovo government had said a simple description of the meeting, the Norwegian government had released more information, confirming that their state prime minister has spoken of the process of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and the government's stance on the organisation of Serbian presidential elections in Kosovo.

Kurti's cabinet cites facts about how Norway is a friendly state of Kosovo that has given continued support, giving no further details about what the two prime ministers had discussed.

While citing Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre's words, the Kosovo Government communique said the chief of Norway's government has been interested in Kosovo government reforms and increasing co-operation between the two countries.

Only six months later, it seems that co-operation presupposed by Kurti's office has “concluded” with the closure of the Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo.

The communication of the time went on in words that the Norwegian prime minister has expressed interest in “constructive and progressive proposals for regional co-operation made by the Kosovo government”.

At the meeting, also discussed the importance of good neighbourly reports among Western Balkan states, as well as the invasion and unprouded Russian military aggression in Ukraine, which the two prime ministers were strongly condemned by”, the Kosovo Government Community said.

In the news for the media, published by the Government of Norway, it was known that discussions between the two prime ministers focused on Norway's support for Kosovo and EU-attensive dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

“We can't take as a match for stability in the Western Balkans. Unresolved issues dating back to the 1990s could again set fire to the region”, Norwegian prime minister quoted him as saying.

Also at this meeting, according to the communiqué, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Störe has expressed his disappointment at not allowing Serbia's Kosovo elections.

The existing agreements must be implemented and both sides must refrain from actions that lower their trust. Therefore, I took advantage of the occasion during our meeting to express my disappointment that Kosovo was not allowing the April 3rd Serbian elections to be organised in the same way as previous elections”, Stoor was quoted as saying.