Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, met with two members of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite Presidency during his visit to Sarajevo.
During his visit, Kurti held separate meetings at the Presidency with Croatian member Željko Komšić and Bosniak member Denis Bećirović.
“I thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, for the decision to lift the visa regime for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We appreciate such an extraordinary unilateral step, and for this reason, it is unusual. This move will certainly contribute to better connections between the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, as well as to increasing mutual trade exchanges,” Komšić wrote on Facebook after his meeting with Kurti.
Meeting between Komšić and Kurti
Kurti started his visit to Sarajevo on December 5th, and during his stay in Bosnia, he will also give a speech at a conference on regional relations organized by the “Independent Intellectuals Association Krug 99.”
The Kosovar Prime Minister did not meet with the Serbian member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency, Željka Cvijanović.
Komšić said that the alleged criticisms regarding Kurti’s visit and the meetings he had in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which come from the Republika Srpska (RS) entity and from the region, “remind me that the RS is not a subject of international law and that RS has no authority to issue visas for entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
He added that criticisms from regional countries are seen as further clear evidence of attempts to deny the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina and as pressure on the country’s sovereign bodies and institutions regarding foreign policy.
“Furthermore, the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina will certainly not ask [the leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, Milorad] Dodik, nor anyone else, who we will meet with and what we will discuss,” Komšić stated, as reported by Radio Free Europe.
Kurti’s visit to Sarajevo was opposed by the head of the Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, who said that the Kosovar Prime Minister’s stay in Bosnia would complicate the situation in the country.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina has not recognized Kosovo. We will not allow Albanians from that region to enter with an ID card,” said Dodik, according to Srna reports.
As a result of Kurti’s visit to Sarajevo, on December 5th, ministers from Republika Srpska announced that they would not participate in the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have not recognized each other due to the opposition of Republika Srpska, which is led by Dodik, who has pro-Russian leanings and is sanctioned by the United States for undermining the Dayton Agreement.
