The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have made progress in all topics discussed during their second meeting in Brussels on Monday.
“In our meetings today, we spoke about economic cooperation and missing and displaced persons – the topics which were opened in our last high-level meeting. And I am happy to announce that we made full progress on the discussions,” EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak stated after the meeting.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti of Kosovo and President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia also confirmed that they had agreed on all three issues: missing persons, displaced persons, and economic cooperation.
Hoti stated that there was progress toward a final agreement for the normalization of relations, which “should lead to mutual recognition”.
“I am pleased to say that progress has been made in drafting the final agreement between the two countries on the full normalization of relations. We will continue in other meetings with other topics that need to be addressed, everything we discuss is part of the final agreement. We always apply the principle “we do not agree on anything, until we agree on the final agreement,” he stated.
Serbia has repeatedly denied Hoti’s claim that they are discussing mutual recognition, or that it will ever recognize Kosovo.
President Vučić confirmed the progress in the three issues discussed and reiterated that the talks are very difficult for Serbia. They discussed speeding up the search for the missing persons, he explained. Kosovo will pass a bill regarding the displaced persons, of which Vučić said he would like to wait and see the practical results.
Regarding economic cooperation, Vučić said it’s very important for Serbia that all countries in the region lift taxes and create a common market for goods and labour.
The content of today’s agreements has not been made public.
Hoti and Vučić will meet again on September 28 in Brussels.
