By EWB 03.09.2020
WASHINGTON – A two-day meeting of the delegations of Serbia and Kosovo begins today in the White House as part of the continuation of the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, N1 reported.
As it has been pointed out from the American administration, the United States does not have a “secret plan”, and the topics of the meetings will be economy.
According to N1, three agreements reached by the two sides will be discussed: the reintroduction of the airline and the development of railway and road traffic.
It is not yet known whether the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, will attend the meetings.
The hosts of the meetings are the special envoy of the American president for the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Grenell, and the advisor for the national security of the USA, Robert O’Brien, while the delegations of Serbia and Kosovo will be led by President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti wrote on Facebook that the Kosovo delegation would meet in Washington with other US officials.
“The government of Kosovo will present major infrastructure and energy projects that contribute to the development and creation of jobs in Kosovo, but which affect the better integration of Kosovo in the regional and European market,” Hoti wrote.
He assessed that important strategic decisions were always made in the White House, which led to the freedom, independence and Euro-Atlantic integration of Kosovo, and that this time, too, it will not be different.
The director of the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia, Marko Đurić, who is part of the Serbian delegation in Washington, stated that the Serbian delegation and President Vučić will present the agenda of economic cooperation between Belgrade and Priština.
He added that he expects difficult political topics to be put on the table.
Three days after the meeting in Washington, on September 7, the high delegations of Serbia and Kosovo have a meeting in Brussels on the continuation of the dialogue.
Antonijević: There will be pressure for a concrete agreement in Washington
The White House has “strong paper” on the table, Milan Antonijević, executive director of the Open Society Foundation, told FoNet.
“A lot of that is kept secret. We will see the way in which the negotiations will be conducted,” Antonijević said.
He expects a lot of pressure because this meeting is one of the last foreign policy “battles” that the Donald Trump administration will be able to lead in this administration.
Antonijević assessed that the European Union has a place at the negotiating table and that everything that is happening in Washington is in line with what Brussels wants to promote.
“Brussels’ goal is to end its dialogue in a quality way, taking into account everything signed by the Brussels agreements. That was the beginning of the warming of relations between Belgrade and Pristina,” said Antonijević.