Serbia Kosovo economic ties, Everything is Political

 Serbia Kosovo economic ties, Everything is Political.

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are expected to sign a deal on economic ties on Friday on the second day of White House talks, but experts question the progress that can be made on economic issues in the absence of a full political deal on relations between Serbia and its former southern province.

With all sides hailing significant progress late on Thursday, the White House issued President Donald Trump’s schedule for Friday which includes him observing a “signing ceremony” between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.

What will be signed is unclear, but Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, has made it clear he wants to put politics on the backburner and focus instead on improving economic ties between Serbia and the former province it refuses to recognise as independent.

Experts, however, are sceptical.

In February this year in Munich, Grenell presided over the signing of an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo to restore rail links between their capitals.

Washington hailed it as an economic win-win, but observers pointed out that restoring the Belgrade-Pristina rail link that was cut by war in 1998-99 would not be so easy.

For one thing, foreigners who enter Kosovo directly, not via Serbia, are unable to then cross the frontier between Kosovo and Serbia given the latter does not recognise it as an international border. Serbia doesn’t even recognise ID documents issued by Kosovo.

“None of these issues can be resolved without a political agreement, because every issue of Serbian- [Kosovo] Albanian relations, whether it is economic, cultural, religious or any other sphere … is always a political issue,” said Aleksandar Milosevic, economics editor at the Serbian daily Danas.

Commentaires

Enregistrer un commentaire

Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

Four tropical disturbances, depression this week

Image
 Four tropical disturbances, depression this week. We’re almost to the peak of hurricane season, and right on cue, we’re watching four new disturbances in the Atlantic Basin. Two of which have a high chance of becoming a depression this week. The front-runner is INVEST-92L, which is producing a disorganized cluster of storms this morning. 92L is expected to push off to the west-northwest in the central Atlantic over the next several days, where conditions will be favorable for it to become a tropical depression or storm. The  National Hurricane Center gives this disturbance a high 90% chance of development over the next 5 days. Behind 92L, a vigorous tropical wave is forecast to push off the west African Coast today. A tropical depression is likely to form by the middle of next week as it pushes westward across the eastern tropical Atlantic. Right now, the National Hurricane Center is giving it a high 80% chance of development over the next 5 days. Computer models are bul...
Lire la suite

Flying-V airplane maiden flight, day bring travelers in its wings

 Flying-V airplane maiden flight, day bring travelers in its wings. Researchers have actually carried out a successful maiden flight of the  Flying-V , a futuristic and fuel effective airplane that might one day bring travelers in its wings. The Flying-V’s special style puts the  passenger cabin , the freight hold and the fuel tanks in the wings, and professionals hope that the aircraft’s aerodynamic shape will cut fuel usage by 20% compared to today’s airplanes. Experts evaluated a 22.5 kg and 3-meter scale design of the futuristic airplane, established by scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and partner Dutch airline company KLM, to take the extremely prepared for airplane along its next developmental actions. A group of scientists and engineers evaluated the airplane at a secured airbase in Germany, where they dealt with an Airbus group to check departures, maneuvers and methods, and landing. “One of our worries was that the aircraft mi...
Lire la suite