Flash News

Gjykojeni protestën nga kundërshtarët

Aksident në Greqi, ndërron jetë 16-vjeçari shqiptar

Protesta trazon PS-në/ Zegjineja e ‘meme-ve’ sulmon influenceren: Shëmtirë, diote. Balla kapet me Reuters

Vrasja në Paskuqan/ Autori është gjurmuar deri në Bovillë, ka braktisur mjetin

Publikoi tezën e Letërsisë 20 minuta pas nisjes së provimit, përjashtohet maturanti në Kukës

KRYESORE

Mathew Palmer: High Time for Belgrade and Pristina to Reach Accord

Politiko 4 Prill 2019, 21:31

Mathew Palmer: High Time for Belgrade and Pristina to Reach Accord

It is high time that Pristina and Belgrade reach an agreement and both parties should avoid steps that render compromise more difficult, deputy assistant to US Secretary of State Matthew Palmer declared in an interview to the April edition of magazine CorD, published in Belgrade in the English language, news agencies report.

Palmer said that the US are not taking part in the negotiations but that they strongly support the EU-brokered dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and that normalization of relations is essential for their European aspirations.

He said Kosovo and Serbia should reach a feasible accord that is durable and does not create instability in any country or region. Palmer said the US will seriously examine any agreement that meets these conditions.

Palmer repeated that the US do not and will not dictate a future solution, that the process and the accord itself should be made between the two parties and that only then such an agreement could become durably applicable both in Kosovo and in Serbia.

He said the US encourage both sides to fully implement this process, reduce the negative rhetoric and work together in a constructive way towards finding a solution. Palmer said Serbia and Kosovo are inextricably interconnected and that neither party can move forward without reaching an all-encompassing agreement on the normalization of relations.

Palmer said the US is ready to help in any way possible, but that it is up to the leaders of both sides to find a way back to the negotiating table and to use this historic opportunity, as US President Donald Trump described it.

He said that the US believes that interests of Kosovo and Serbia would be best exercised through a bilateral agreement that would be conducive to a comprehensive normalization of relations based on mutual recognition, and that the US are prepared to help that process.

Asked to comment Pristina’s refusal to lift tariffs on goods from central Serbia, even after repeated US demands, Palmer said both Belgrade and Pristina should avoid steps that make compromise more difficult. He conveyed US stance that tariffs are counter-productive.

Palmer said it is important that Kosovo and Serbia avoid provocations, lower tensions, appease the rhetoric and cooperate in implementing measures that encourage security and safety of citizens of both countries.

Asked on what he bases his hope that an accord between Belgrade and Pristina would be reached by the end of the year, Palmer said that he is increasingly become aware of the fact that the term for resolving conflicts from the past and building a better future has long expired.

He said that he opposes a large international conference to resolve the Kosovo problem and repeated that this should be resolved locally.