Minister Tahiri has paid special focus to the issue of telephone code for Kosovo, energy issues, mobility, removing the barricade over the Iber River, and reaching agreement on vehicle insurance, etc.

Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri, during her stay in Brussels met with officials of the European Union, where the focus of the talks was to accelerate the implementation of all agreements reached in Brussels Dialogue. Meetings were held with Anna-Maria Eleni Boura, special advisor for the dialogue form the office of High Representative of the EU Federica Mogherini, and Mr. Nicholas Cendrowicz and Alexis Hupin, facilitators in certain areas Dialogue.

In these meetings, Minister Tahiri highly appreciated the progress achieved in the dialogue during this period, by reaching an agreement on the issue of “Civil Defence” and justice, confirming that the Kosovo Government immediately began implementation of its obligations. “These positive developments will boost this process and that should serve to advance the implementation of agreements in the fields where stagnation and delays have been identified,” said Minister Tahiri.

Minister Tahiri has paid special focus to the issue of telephone code for Kosovo, energy issues, mobility, removing the barricade over the Iber River, and reaching agreement on vehicle insurance, etc.

Both parties agreed on the need to increase efforts in implementation of the agreements, where she had discussion for the issue of telephone code for Kosovo, and approximated views in terms of finalizing faster the obtaining of the telephone code for Kosovo by ITU – the. Also, in terms of energy, were discussed solutions for certain aspects of implementing the energy, and considered the implementation of this agreement has positive steps towards implementation such as the signing of two cooperation agreements between the Energy Transmission Authority Systems of both countries, which became possible through this dialogue.

Regarding free of movement, the Minister Tahiri has made a request for the opening of a new border crossing point between Kosovo and Serbia to the point “Kapia e Sfircës” by notifying the EU that the Mayors of Kamenica and Medvegja have made such a request to authorities of the respective states. She stressed that the Kosovo Government is ready to engage in this regard because this border crossing would facilitate freedom of the citizens by reducing the distance road for more than 100km, and asked from EU to discuss this issue with the Serbian side.

Within the free movement were discussed obstacles which occurred upon the stop of the buses and trucks of Kosovo from Serbia, where it was agreed that the parties should respect the agreement and in case of the need for new standards, the issues should be agreed in advance in the Brussels dialogue.

Minister Tahiri spoke about the positive actions that are being undertaken by the EU Office in Kosovo for the revitalization of the Iber Bridge and removal of the barricade on the bridge and the others around. She expressed her conviction that the action plan will be implemented within the timeline.

While discussing the agreement on vehicle insurance that was close to signing, Minister Tahiri criticized Serbia for showing no willingness to sign the agreement on which occasion she asked for greater commitment by the EU, because for these agreements it was invested nearly two years of negotiations and these delay are causing financial problems for citizens of both countries. She said that it is up to insurance companies from Serbia to put the interests of citizens before the commercial interests of their companies, in the same manner the Kosovo insurance companies and the Insurance Bureau of Kosovo who said yes to the agreement.

Also, Minister Tahiri emphasized the need to be equipped with Albanian books in Presevo Valley from Kosovo Government, and asked for its implementation without being hampered by Serbian authorities on principles of reciprocity.

During the meetings were discussed other issues relating to the quality of administrative procedures in terms of customs duties and advancement of some technical aspects, where considered to held a meeting of the Working Group of IBM as soon as possible, and it was stressed that the periodic meetings evaluation of liaison offices should be held according to the implementation schedule.

Delegation of the Republic of Kosovo was led by Minister Tahiri and political advisers, Dren Zeka and Gazmir Raci, both coordinators of Dialogue in Brussels and Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in Brussels, Mimoza Ahmetaj./RTK/