THE PAVLOVIC TODAY: Thank you, Ned. Just quickly on Serbia-Kosovo talks, the path forward. Specifically, can we expect Secretary Blinken to convene a meeting either by phone or in person here in D.C. before September 1st – that we know that’s the deadline for the solution to be found with President of Serbia Vu?i? and the Prime Minister Kurti? I also understand it was announced today that Ambassador Hill in Belgrade is having a meeting with the Serbian president tomorrow. So what is the expectation for that meeting as well, if you can speak a little bit to that as well? Thank you.
NED PRICE: We are engaged in this. We’ve been deeply engaged as an observer to the EU-facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. Just as I said last week, our understanding is that talks are ongoing. We are watching. We’re doing so in partnership with the EU and are encouraging both sides to use the dialogue effectively.
DAS Escobar is traveling to Pristina and to Belgrade to support the dialogue to continue to show our high level of interest and engagement in this issue.
Ned Price
It’s a dialogue that we very much support and we think that it’s incumbent on both parties to use this opportunity to the fullest extent to advance their discussions on normalized relations centered on mutual recognition as well.
I can also say that in addition to the observer, DAS Escobar, we had in Brussels – DAS Escobar is traveling to Pristina and to Belgrade to support the dialogue, to continue to show our high-level interest and engagement in this issue. He traveled, of course, to Brussels last week, and he’ll soon be traveling to Pristina and Belgrade to continue our support for the dialogue.
From left to right: Albin KURTI (Kosovo), Miroslav LAJ?ÁK (EU Special representative for the Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Slovakia), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES (High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, EEAS), Aleksandar Vucic (President of Serbia, Serbia) /Photo: European Union
THE PAVLOVIC TODAY: And Secretary Blinken – I specifically asked at the beginning – can we expect him to convene a phone call or a in-person meeting with the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo?
NED PRICE: If we feel that the Secretary’s engagement over the phone or in-person is the indispensable ingredient to getting something like that over the finish line, Secretary Blinken doesn’t hesitate to pick up the phone and to have those conversations.
