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By:
Valbona Bytyqi
- September 3, 2021 13:39
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The US State Department encouraged Kosovo and Serbia to continue with the moratorium on recognition issues that complicate progress in technical areas, says a response from this Department to TIME on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Washington Agreement.
The agreement was signed a year ago in the Oval Office of the White House by former Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, in the presence of former President Donald Trump.
"To support the success of the dialogue and other efforts, we encourage both sides to maintain their moratoriums on recognition issues that complicate progress in technical areas," their response said.
In the response of the spokesperson of the Department of State, he further writes that the USA will continue to work with Kosovo and Serbia with the aim of comprehensive normalization of relations between them.
"We are continuing to work with Kosovo and Serbia to implement their commitments in support of the goal of comprehensive normalization of relations. The United States is ready to support work toward a comprehensive and binding normalization agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, centered on mutual recognition, which lays the foundation for lasting cooperation and prosperity," the State Department's response continues.
The State Department expressed support for the dialogue facilitated by the European Union, calling on Kosovo and Serbia to re-engage in this process. They also demanded that the commitments reached in Washington last year be respected in good faith.
"We support the EU-facilitated dialogue and encourage the parties to re-engage in this process with a sense of urgency to address technical and political issues. We hope that our partners will honor in good faith the commitments they made in Washington last year. We therefore encourage both parties to prioritize efforts to build political trust through serious and substantive participation in the EU-facilitated dialogue process. We also encourage Kosovo and Serbia to increase cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as pandemic recovery and improvement of economic and trade relations," concludes their response.
The signing of the agreement was made possible by the former envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Grenell, under the mediation of Trump.
