President Vjosa Osmani is currently in the United States of America, where she is participating in the Forum for Women, Peace and Security, within the framework of the NATO Summit. In an interview for “Voice of America”, when asked about the dialogue with Serbia, the president said that the Basic Agreement should be implemented in parallel by the two states, on the contrary, regarding Serbia’s withdrawal, she said that Kosovo cannot implement the agreement voluntarily without receiving guarantees from partner countries.
“If we are convinced that Serbia will not implement its part of the agreement, we must return to the strategy of 2007-2008, when the agreement on the status of Kosovo was made. Our agreement was to agree with the partners, not with Serbia, because Serbia did not want Ahtisaari. We need such an agreement, we need security guarantees, international support, membership in international organizations, as a project that brings more peace and security to the Region”, said Osmani for the Voice of America.
She added that Kosovo insists on parallel implementation of the Basic Agreement.
“The more successes there are in the Dialogue, the faster Kosovo will take steps towards the EU and NATO, but we must make one thing clear in every agreement there are two parties and it is a basic principle of international law that if one party withdraws from the agreement then the other party has no obligation to fulfill its part of the agreement. What we are instigating is not to run away from our obligations, but to have a parallel implementation of the agreement reached in Brussels, known as the Basic Agreement, where there are obligations for Kosovo, some of which have been difficult concessions, but there are also obligations clear for Serbia, which if taken in its entirety constitute defacto recognition of the Republic of Kosovo, as has been clearly emphasized by European leaders. Therefore, Serbia cannot withdraw and they are not implementing the agreement and we offer ourselves as volunteers to implement everything without taking insurance on the other side”, said Osmani.
According to Osman, “The Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is not the whole of the Kosovo-America relationship, let’s not reduce the special relationship between Kosovo and the USA only to what is similar to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Obviously, it is an important aspect for security in the region and our Euro-Atlantic future to succeed in the dialogue process and this is the reason for the constant insistence of the USA and our other allies”.
Osmani also spoke about the activities he is holding within the framework of the NATO Summit.
“On this 75th anniversary of NATO, which is undoubtedly a historic event for all member states and the states that have benefited in terms of peace and security. For Kosovo, it is a doubly special anniversary because it is also the 25th anniversary of the entry of NATO forces into Kosovo led by the USA…”, said Osmani.
“It was so important that for the first time in history Kosovo was invited to activities within the framework of the NATO Summit and we are very grateful for the work done by Secretary Blinken’s office and in general the American Government for Kosovo to be at the center of the attention of these achievements, especially for “Women, Peace and Security”, said the president.
“We discussed with Blinken about the achievements of Kosovo, I had the opportunity to express the thanks of the people of Kosovo for everything that America has done and for the challenges we face that we must choose together”.
Osmani also said that he had meetings with a large number of senators and congressmen who have supported Kosovo.
“We discussed the way forward”, Osmani said, referring to the meetings with the senators.
