Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia's President, departed for Washington on Wednesday where he would meet Kosovo' Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti under the mediation of the US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for the Belgarde – Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations Richard Grenell and US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien.
The meetings are scheduled for Thursday and Friday and are said to be about the economic cooperation and the agreements that have been signed but still not implemented.
O'Brien tweeted that “both leaders’ commitment to dialogue will benefit” from it.
“I look forward to welcoming @predsednikrs Vucic and Prime Minister @Avdullah Hoti to the White House tomorrow. These important discussions will advance peace through economic cooperation. Both leaders’ commitment to dialogue will benefit #Serbia and #Kosovo.”–NSA Robert O’Brien pic.twitter.com/mpvhe2SyXn
— NSC (@WHNSC) September 2, 2020
There are speculations that the White House talks might include some political issues, and that Trump might meet Vucic and Hoti. The White House has neither confirmed nor deined that.
Kosovo's Prime Minister said that all the talks and agreements had only one goal – the mutual recognition of Kosovo and Serbia, while Vucic predicted some surprises during the meetings. In that case, he said, would not meet Trump.
The European Union is not thrilled with the US initiative but diplomatically said Brussels welcomed any help, including the one from Washington.
Generally, a plan is that only EU, which has been facilitated the dialogue since 2013, will deal with political issues, while the US will focus on the economic topics.
On Tuesday, a Trump's advisor told reporters in Washington that the talks would focus on agreements on the air, railroad and road traffic which were still only on the paper.
The advisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US did not have any secret agenda.
