Statement of the Spokesperson of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Arbër Vllahiu, in response to the interest shown by the media on the possible meeting between the President of Kosovo and President of Serbia.
President of the Republic of Serbia, Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, since the very first day of her mandate, has expressed her principled and concrete stance that she is ready to meet with anyone, anytime and anywhere in lieu of representation and defence of the interests of the Republic of Kosovo, a sovereign and independent state and fully respecting her constitutional and legal mandate.
At the Four Presidents of the Countries of the Region Summit, held in Ohrid, Macedonia, in July 2011, President Jahjaga accepted the proposal and the mediation of the President of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanovic related to a holding of a meeting with the then President of Serbia, Mr. Boris Tadic. Also, at the Four Presidents meeting held on the 4th and the 5th of December this year in Budva, Montenegro, the invitation for participation was extended to the President of Serbia, Mr. Tomislav Nikolic as well.
This was an opportunity for bilateral and multilateral meetings, taking into consideration the fact that meetings between Presidents help bilateral cooperation and strengthen the peace and stability in the region. Madam President has agreed that invitations for participation to the next Summit, due to be held in Albania, are extended to Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Serbia.
On the last day of the Budva Summit, the cabinet of the President of Kosovo was contacted by the representatives of the cabinet of the President of Serbia and a suggestion was presented for a direct meeting of the Presidents of both countries, as an incitement to the dialogue process and achievement of implementation of agreements that ease the lives of the citizens and that influence the full normalisation of the relations between the Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Serbia.
President Jahjaga has responded positively to such an initiative considering it to be her own initiative as well, as meetings between the leaders of the both countries contribute towards the European agenda of good neighbourly relations and on resolution of outstanding issues through dialogue and agreements.
As the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is taking place in Brussels, with the facilitation and mediation of European Union and with a strong support of the United States of America, President Jahjaga has suggested that the European Union leaders organise and mediate the initial meeting of the Presidents of the Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Serbia, and that this meeting should be held right after the ensuing meeting of the Prime Ministers Thaçi and Dacic.
Madam President considers the dialogue to be the only alternative towards finding of the European solutions and their applications in practice in function of the full normalisation of the relations between the two independent and sovereign countries.
Meetings of Madam President with the Presidents of the neighbouring countries strengthen the international subjectivity of Kosovo.