A meeting of representatives of Belgrade and Pristina on the settlement of the Kosovo issue ended in Washington.

The parties agreed to cooperate in the economic sphere.

The signing ceremony was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of partially recognized Kosovo Avdulla Hoti, White House Chief Donald Trump, United States Special Representative for Peace Talks between Serbia and Kosovo Richard Grenell, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O'Brien and Vice - US President Mike Pence. 

Following the meeting, the American President announced that Serbia and Kosovo had reached an agreement on the normalization of economic relations.

According to him, this is a breakthrough designed to make the world safer and more prosperous.

"My administration has proposed a new way to build bridges by creating (new. -

RT

) jobs and economic growth," Trump said.

"I think that

fantastic relations will be established

between them (Serbia and Kosovo. -

RT

)."

Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brian, in turn, believes that "with the strengthening of economic ties, there will be political solutions" to overcome the crisis.

The head of the White House also said that by July 2021 Belgrade will move its embassy to Jerusalem, and Pristina will establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his readiness to develop diplomatic relations with Kosovo.

After the signing ceremony, the Serbian President clarified that Belgrade and Washington had signed a bilateral agreement on Kosovo.

His appeal was broadcast on Serbian TV channels.

“I am sincerely pleased with what we have achieved.

We signed a bilateral agreement with the United States, it is important that this is not a trilateral agreement.

Thus, the agreement does not recognize Kosovo as an object of international law, "TASS quoted Vucic.

Earlier, Aleksandr Vucic said that on the first day of the talks, Washington offered him to sign an agreement, which, among other things, provided for the recognition of the independence of the rebellious region, but the Serbian President categorically refused to sign such a document.

He stated this on the air of TV Pink.

The Serbian leader also said that the parties discussed economic issues, infrastructure projects linking Belgrade and Pristina, loans through development agencies and the opening of the office of the American Development Fund in Belgrade.

In addition, negotiations were under way to connect Pristina to the Balkan Economic Union, which is often called the "small Schengen", under American guarantees.

In general, according to the Serbian leader, the first day of the summit was "difficult."

  • Belgrade-Pristina talks in Washington

  • Twitter

  • © @WHNSC

In turn, the Prime Minister of the partially recognized Kosovo, Avdulla Hoti, after the first day of negotiations, said that “great progress” had been made in the development of economic cooperation. 

“Prime Minister Hoti also noted that there has never been and will never be the case for the Kosovo authorities to leave the White House with an agreement that would be unacceptable for Kosovo or in some way would harm it,” the website of the Hoti office says.

Washington's position

Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali reported earlier that during the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, the Serbian delegation was under enormous pressure.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, he said that from some of those present, not only Albanians, an extremely aggressive reaction followed to every word of the representatives of Serbia.

At the same time, the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O'Brien said after the first day of the meeting about "a very successful round of negotiations with the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo."

“Today they have made real progress ... Normalizing the economy means creating jobs for young people,” said O'Brien, quoted on Twitter by the White House National Security Council.

“Very good round of discussions this afternoon with the leaders of #Serbia and #Kosovo.

They made real progress today.

Thanks to @DFCgov, @MCCgov, and @EximBankUS for joining.

#EconomicNormalization means jobs for young people.

Talks continue tomorrow! ”

- NSA Robert O'Brien pic.twitter.com/7usHrh2w2N

- NSC (@WHNSC) September 3, 2020

"In order not to fix obstacles"

As Mikhail Lobanov, an expert on the Balkans, associate professor of the Moscow School of Economics at Moscow State University, noted, it is extremely important for Serbia that formally in the bilateral agreement between Belgrade and Washington, Kosovo is not recognized as independent.

“We are talking about socio-economic agreements that do not change the world political architecture, but give an impetus to the development of the region.

Perhaps, thanks to this agreement, issues related to limiting the movement of Serbian goods to the territory of Kosovo will be removed, which was one of the biggest obstacles to normalizing relations.

Without establishing a dialogue in this area, it is absolutely impossible to talk about the convergence of positions on foreign policy issues, "the analyst said in a commentary on RT. 

At the same time, Pavel Kandel, a leading researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, drew attention to the fact that Trump "managed to squeeze" agreements regarding Israel from his partners, "first of all, for his election campaign."

"This, of course, can be considered as a concession from Vucic, but it cost Belgrade inexpensively - Serbia and Israel had friendly relations before," the expert explained. 

According to Kandel, the Americans "first deliberately included Belgrade's recognition of Kosovo's independence in the agreement in order to show that this is exactly what Washington expects from the Serbian side."

  • Near the Serbia-Kosovo border, October 21, 2011

  • Reuters

  • © Marko Djurica

In turn, Vladimir Putyatin, associate professor of the history of the southern and western Slavs at the Faculty of History, Moscow State University, believes that the United States is behind the attempts to force Belgrade to recognize Kosovo's independence.

“The solution to the Kosovo problem once again worries Washington.

There are several reasons for this.

The first is that Donald Tampa needs at least some kind of diplomatic victory on the eve of the upcoming elections.

But since Vucic has already announced his decision not to recognize the independence of Kosovo, any achievements in the negotiations are now presented by the American presidential administration as a political victory for Trump and his team, ”the expert said in a conversation with RT.

Another motive for the United States is to receive financial benefits from mediation between Belgrade and Pristina, Putyatin said.

“Negotiations were certainly going around so that Serbia would not obstruct the United States for its full penetration into Kosovo and the region as a whole.

Washington's goal is to become a hegemon there, to use this territory for the development of transit routes, ”the analyst explained.

At the same time, according to Putyatin, the recognition of Kosovo's independence by Belgrade would allow American campaigns to legalize their detail in the rebellious land and receive significant profits from it.

“After all, the Americans have already invested their money in this region,” the expert added.

Tug of War

Another meeting of the representatives of Belgrade and Pristina is scheduled for September 7 in Brussels.

As specified in the European Union, Alexander Vucic, Avdulla Hoti, as well as the head of the EU diplomacy Josep Borrell and the EU special representative for the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade Miroslav Lajcak will take part in the negotiations.

Vladimir Putyatin believes that the EU's position on the Kosovo issue "has a pragmatic background."

“Brussels is interested in resolving the Kosovo conflict, as it wants to neutralize the negative consequences of the collapse of Yugoslavia, when migrants from the region poured into the European Union.

At the same time, there are also certain economic interests, in particular, the desire to increase cooperation with the region, ”the analyst believes.

  • Flags of Serbia and Kosovo

  • © Hazir Reka, Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters

Putyatin predicts that at the upcoming meeting in Brussels, the parties are likely to also touch upon economic issues.

At the same time, the European colleagues “will find it easier to get any concessions from Vucic in this area, since Serbia has closer ties with the EU than with the United States,” the expert believes.

He drew attention to the fact that now "the confrontation between the positions of Washington and Brussels on the Kosovo settlement is most clearly observed."

“This is a kind of tug-of-war - there is a struggle for influence in the region.

And the stake here is on who will achieve great preferences for themselves - the EU or the USA.

The European Union is not going to give Kosovo to the United States under full control, given that relations between the Americans and Europeans have recently been in a very tense state, ”the expert said.

Pavel Kandel adheres to a similar position.

“In the EU, although they understand that Vucic is not ready to recognize Kosovo's independence, they still want to keep the conflict settlement under their control and not give priority to the United States in this.

After all, there is an informal rivalry between Washington and Brussels in the Balkans, although they officially emphasize that they are acting in a coordinated manner and in the same direction.

But in reality this is not entirely true, ”said the analyst.

At the same time, Kandel predicts that Brussels and Washington in the future "will continue to put pressure on Belgrade to recognize Kosovo's independence."

“At the same time, Vucic will possibly make some concessions on the Kosovo issue.

However, the topic of recognizing the independence of the rebellious land will remain suspended in the air, ”concluded Putyatin.