WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2020) US policymakers hope the White House-hosted summit on Thursday and Friday between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti will focus on building new economic ties between the two adversaries and avoid the many contentious unresolved political issues between them.
"Anybody who is a casual observer would realize that we're kind of stuck on political discussions and we keep kind of pounding the same issues over and over without much progress," a senior Trump administration official told reporters.
US President Donald Trump wanted to foster conditions of economic growth and increased opportunities for young people that would generate a new sense of prosperity and willingness to move ahead from the sterile conflicts of the past, the senior official explained.
"What President Trump wanted to do was to see if a focus on economic development and job creation for young people could somehow change the dynamic of the situation," the senior official said.
Vucic and Hoti are slated to meet at the White House on Thursday for talks hosted by US Special Envoy Richard Grenell, the White House said.
However, it remained unclear whether Trump would participate, the senior official said.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after a US-led military campaign against the then SR Yugoslavia - comprising of Serbia and Montenegro - after Belgrade tried to quell an Albanian separatist uprising led by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) terrorist organization.
Kosovo has since experienced ethnic cleansing of its non-Albanian population - including Serbs, Macedonians and others - and has become a key international organized crime hub for the distribution of drugs and other contraband. Moreover, the Kosovo Albanians have aided the overall Albanian territorial designs on neighboring Macedonia and Montenegro for the creation of "Greater Albania."
Serbia considers Kosovo and Metohia to be its territory - a fact recognized by United Nations Resolution 1244 - and refuses to recognize Kosovo's statehood.
Vucic has made clear that Belgrade would not consider the possibility of recognizing Kosovo's independence at the meeting in Washington.
Privately, US officials acknowledge that no progress has been on any major political dispute between Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians, hence their hopes that they can help generate a new more constructive willingness to work together on both sides by focusing on economic cooperation.
With only two months to go before the US presidential elections on November 3, critics, especially in the European Commission in Brussels and among major European Union nations have said they believe Trump wants to give the illusion of both progress and hands-on US involvement.
However, the real, continued heavy lifting seeking to find an eventual settlement between the two disputing parties continues to be done by the Europeans centered in Brussels, they say.
The European Union has continually pressured and conditioned Serbia to give up its ownership of Kosovo and to recognize its statehood.
US officials counter that Trump administration Special Envoy Grinnell has at least brought Vucic and Hoti face to face in Washington and has previously pressured Albanians to give up their draconian taxing and other policies on Serbian goods.
In any case, Brussels is set to host a new round of high-level negotiations between the two sides next Monday with the participation of the European Union's top diplomat and special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, the EU diplomatic office said on Wednesday.
"On Monday 7 September, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Miroslav Lajcak, will host the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, for another high-level meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue in Brussels," a statement from the office read.
The meeting will address non-majority community arrangements and the settlement of mutual financial claims or property, the statement went on to say.
In the lead-up to the talks, Lajcak will head an expert-level meeting to discuss missing and displaced persons and economic cooperation.
The EU-sponsored Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue was set up in 2011 to facilitate a political settlement, but it has not made any significant headway so far.
Since the collapse of Yugoslavia, the status of Kosovo has been viciously disputed between Serbia and Kosovo's Muslim Albanian population. In the 1990s, the Albanians engaged in terrorist campaign against Serbian security forces and civilians, prompting Belgrade to respond to quell the unrest and preserve Serbia's territorial integrity. However, a US-led NATO military action against Serbia paved the way for Albanians to claim independence later on.
In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally announced its independence from Serbia. Russia and an overwhelming majority of the Latin American and Asian nations do not recognize the self-proclaimed state.
Pristina has since been waging a campaign with US and EU help to gain recognition by as many other states as possible and membership in international organizations, but with limited success. Meanwhile, Serbia has launched its own campaign of convincing those states that have recognized Kosovo as an independent state to revoke their recognition.
