Priština wants “equal status” in Sarajevo

Kosovo Albanian government’s Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni says Priština is ready to participate in the Western Balkans-EU conference in Sarajevo.

But Kosovo Albanian officials, he explained, wish to have an “equal status”.

As a press conference held with his Bulgarian FM Nikolai Mladenov, Hyseni said that an invitation to the Sarajevo conference had yet to arrive, but that “Kosovo is ready to participate in the summit as an equal participant”.

Mladenov, who met with Hyseni, Fatmir Sejdiu and Hashim Thaci as well, said that the Sarajevo summit is a very important event for the region.

He said that despite the differences and unresolved question between the countries of the region, the EU wants the summit to confirm the European perspective of the entire region.

Hyseni said that he expects that Kosovo will be offered a palpable perspective at the conference for a liberalization of its visa regime.

“Kosovo needs to get a clear list of conditions and tasks it must fulfill on its road map, in order to reach its goal at the same time as Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina,” Hyseni said.

He said that it would be a fundamental mistake to leave Kosovo alone on that path.