Thaci told Biden that the reconciliation of Kosovo and Serbia is possible and will happen.
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Vice President Biden received a cold welcome Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia, as hundreds of ultranationalists marched through the city chanting “Vote for Trump!”
After visiting Belgrade, Biden flew to Pristina, capital of the Kosovo and Metohija province, where he will on Wednesday meet leaders of the region.
(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu). Kosovar’s walk in capital Pristina main square decorated with Kosovo and U.S flags ahead of the visit of the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
Speaking before Biden, Thaci thanked the US vice president – a strong supporter of Kosovo during its struggle for independence – for being “the voice” of Kosovo.
Serbia “won’t be able to continue with the balancing act as it makes progress toward the EU”, Jaksic said.
“The United States and Serbia do not agree on every issue, there are a lot of scars and wounds that are alive from the 1990s, but I hope that we will take steps forward, and that the entire region will be marked by economic growth”, said Biden. He once said that his work to end the Yugoslav wars was one of the “proudest moments” of his long political career.
In Belgrade on Tuesday, Biden became the first senior U.S. politician to offer condolences to Serbs who lost loved ones in the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strikes during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. The alliance’s intervention, when thousands were killed, shifted many Serbs from their generally pro-Western views, toward their traditional Slavic ally Russian Federation.
He extended his condolences “to the families of those whose lives were lost during the wars of the 1990s, including as a result of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (1999) air campaign”.
The bloody breakup of former Yugoslavia claimed tens of thousands of lives and left millions homeless in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.
Later Wednesday, Biden attended with his family an emotional ceremony naming a road near an American military base after his late son, Beau Biden, who died a year ago of brain cancer at age 46. The trip also highlights Washington’s worry about the slow pace of regional reconciliation 17 years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air war and 21 years after a Bosnia peace deal was signed.
Vice President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump’s ability to lead America at home and overseas on Monday, branding him as indifferent to the needs of Americans in his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Vucic said he was certain the USA wanted a stable and peaceful Western Balkans, adding that Serbia would do all it could to contribute to that.
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Vucic, an ultra-nationalist turned pro-EU reformer, warned that “only a spark” could turn simmering tensions into “chaos”. He said attacks involving “immigrants or the children of immigrants” underscore the need to implement “extreme vetting”.
