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Serbia and Kosovo have agreed to an economic rapprochement and want to strengthen their relations with Israel. At a meeting at the White House in the presence of US President Donald Trump, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, they signed an economic cooperation agreement between the two countries on Friday.
With a view to normalizing economic relations, Trump spoke of a “historic day.” After years of failed political negotiations, his administration has proposed to focus on job creation and economic growth to bridge the gap, Trump said. Vucic, Hoti and Trump signed an agreement to that effect on Friday.
Trump said the deal made Serbia and Kosovo “safer for their countries, the Balkans and the world.” He hopes to visit both countries “in the not too distant future.” Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo, now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians, since it seceded from Serbia with NATO assistance in 1999 and declared it independent in 2008.
Trump also announced that Serbia would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the example of the United States. Serbia will open a business office in Jerusalem this month. The Serbian embassy should move to Jerusalem in July next year, the US president said.
According to Israeli sources, Serbia would be the first European country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. “That’s fantastic,” Trump said. “We really appreciate it.” After the trialogue meeting at the White House, the US president announced that the Muslim majority of Kosovo and Israel had also agreed to normalize their relationship and establish diplomatic relations.
Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in late 2017 and moved the US embassy there from Tel Aviv in May 2018. Since then, the Palestinians have been boycotting the US government. Trump cites the relocation of the US embassy in the US election campaign as a major success for his administration.
Jerusalem is home to the major religious centers of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Since 1967, Israel has occupied both the western and eastern part of Arab influence. The state of the city is one of the central themes of the Middle East conflict. Israel claims Jerusalem as its “eternal and indivisible capital.” Israel rejects the Palestinian claim of the eastern part as the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Serbian head of state for his decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, according to a spokesman. Netanyahu also paid tribute to Trump for his contribution. Trump said, “I think we are going to have a great peace in the Middle East.”
Vucic and Hoti met in Washington for two-day talks that ended on Friday. The meeting, which was originally supposed to take place in June but was later postponed, was started by American diplomat Richard Grenell. Grenell was a former ambassador to Germany and now serves as Trump’s special adviser in Serbia and Kosovo.
