Dialogue: Remarks by EU’s Lajčák after the high-level meeting

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Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue: Remarks by the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák after the high-level meeting

We just finished our second in person high-level meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue with President [of Serbia, Aleksandar] Vučić and Prime Minister [of Kosovo, Avdullah] Hoti in Brussels.

It is important that both leaders this morning, coming from the meeting in the White House and ahead of our Dialogue session, confirmed that they attach the highest priority to the EU integration and to continuing the work on the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue. Having this clear joint commitment and understanding of priorities is essential for progress in their respective European paths.

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.

We also discussed for the first time, as part of the negotiations of a legally binding comprehensive agreement, arrangements for non-majority communities and also the settlement of mutual financial claims and property. This was a first exchange that allowed us to define the next steps in our discussions. Our next meeting will be dedicated to these two topics.

Our negotiations today were intense, as usually, and not always easy, but what prevailed was the will of both sides to advance the discussions despite the painful and complex issues at hand.

We agreed to follow-up on our discussions at expert level next week and to re-convene at the level of leaders later this month.

(eeas.europe.eu, 07/09/2020)