Kosovar Leader Expects No Agreement At Talks With Serbia's Vucic In Berlin

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published April 17, 2019 | 08:45 PM

Leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said on Wednesday he was expecting no specific result from the upcoming meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Germany

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) Leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said on Wednesday he was expecting no specific result from the upcoming meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Germany.

The leaders of Kosovo, Thaci and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and Serbia, Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, will meet on April 29 in Berlin at the invitation of Germany and France.

"This meeting has no secret agenda. I expect that it will end with a rhetorical statement, agreed in advance by the participants, that will at least confirm the European outlook for our region, the deepening of reforms, especially in the field of the supremacy of law, that will mark the need to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia," Thaci wrote on Facebook.

On April 10, Vucic confirmed that he would respond to the invitation by Germany and France but added that he did not expect anything from the meeting.

He also added that Belgrade would be ready to start talking when Pristina abolishes its 100-percent taxes on Serbian imports.

In November, the government of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo set a customs duty of 100 percent on all products from Serbia and also banned all goods that were not marked with symbols of Kosovo, as is required by the rules of the self-proclaimed republic. Kosovar authorities said these measures were implemented in response to Serbian aggressive attitude toward Kosovo. However, several foreign companies producing goods on Serbia's soil were exempt from the tariffs.

Pristina unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. The self-proclaimed republic is recognized by over 100 UN member states. Serbia, as well as China, Greece, Iran, Israel, Russia, Spain, and a number of other countries have not recognized Kosovo's independence.