The meeting between the US ambassador to Pristina Philip Kosnett and Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and the parliament speaker Kadri Seselj said to have discussed the suspension or abolishment of import tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia ended without official statements, the news agency reported.
After an hour of talking they parted without news conference, leaving room for media to speculate what if anything was agreed upon.
However, Kosovo‘s lajmi.net website said the US would not grant visas to any of Kosovo‘s officials after Pristina rejected to annul or suspend the 100 percent taxes introduced last November.
According to the website, Washington has started to implement the announced sanctions against Kosovo for ignoring the US, and the European Union repeated requests concerning the import duties.
Later on Thursday, Thaci said the meeting was a regular one which „contributed to the cooperation with America. Kosovo is and will remain loyal to America and no one can spoil that cooperation.“
Haradinaj rejected „unfounded claims“ that by refusing to lift the tariffs he was contributing to the worsening of relations with the US.
„America is my family and I greatly respect it even when we don’t share opinion,,“ he said after the meeting.
He reaiterated the decison on import duties was Kosovo’s soverign move.
Kosnett has not comment on the meeting yet.
The last US warning said that in case of the refusal, Washington would reconsider its relations with Pristina, including the suspension of the aid to Kosovo Security Forces. The US said its help was not unconditional.
Haradinaj is the only leader who remains firm in keeping the tariffs in place linking it to Belgrade’s recognition of Kosovo independence, while Thaci and Veseli, both from the same party, Haradinaj’s coalition partners, said that the measure should be suspended and the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations should resume.
Belgrade maintains the dialogue can continue after the import tariffs are lifted.
