Vienna, 12 January 2023
Thank you Chancellor Nehammer for your invitation and for your warm welcome.
This is my first official visit abroad this year. And where better to begin than in beautiful Vienna, in the City of great composers and thinkers, and for so many good reasons, also a gateway to the Western Balkans. I am pleased to be here.
Austria is a close friend and important partner to Kosova. It has helped us in our liberation struggle and to secure peace, along with Austrian soldiers, who have served for so many years in NATO’s Kosova Force (KFOR). Also, Austria has for decades supported in particular Kosova’s educational system.
We are thankful for your contribution to peace, security, and prosperity for our country, and for the region.
From the early 70s to the late 90s, Austria became home to many of our citizens who escaped occupation and war. Today they work, study, and live here. About 70,000 citizens of Kosova live and work in Austria, serving as our ambassadors – we don’t have only one – and living bridges between our two countries and cultures. We are very grateful for this bond and are looking forward to deepening and strengthening our friendly relations even more, in every aspect.
This city, however, less than two decades ago, has also been a witness to difficult negotiations and painful compromises that ultimately led to the independence of Kosova, and in a month’s time we are going to celebrate 15 years of declaration of independence. We have a European modern constitution and with the most advanced and comprehensive rights for minorities not only in our region but also in Europe and beyond.
Austrian politicians, diplomats and activists have supported Kosova in times of need, and today they are a voice of reason for Kosova in EU institutions. We are deeply grateful, and it is a testimony to our traditionally good and friendly relations.
Having Austria as a partner at our side, we are certain that we will achieve important goals for Kosova. And some of these goals we shared together in today’s meeting with his excellency Chancellor Nehammer:
We will continue to work on our reform agenda, paving the way for membership in the European Union, for which we applied a month ago. We value Austria’s support for our application. Based on several independent evaluations, Kosova is the most democratic country in the Western Balkans and our aim is to be an equal and fully integrated part of the EU, without fast track, without back door, but building EU in our country with our people, and with an EU with whom we share not only a continent but also the values of rule of law, democracy, political pluralism, peace and prosperity.
We aspire for membership in the Council of Europe and let me thank you from the bottom of my heart, your excellency, Chancellor Nehammer for your support of our application. Integration of Kosova in international organizations and mechanisms of cooperation is of significant importance for peace and prosperity for the whole Western Balkans.
We also spoke about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and I explained to chancellor Nehammer some of Russia’s malign influence in the Western Balkans through various actors there.
Kosova immediately condemned Russia’s invasion and military aggression in Ukraine and joined EU sanctions against Russian Federation. We have sheltered 12 Ukrainian journalists who became residents of our capital town, Prishtina and we have offered working conditions for them. We have also offered to shelter up to 5,000 Ukrainian refugees.
I also informed Chancellor Nehammer for our constructive and creative attitude and proactive, for sure, in the dialogue with Serbia. The dialogue should lead to an agreement for full normalization of relations between our two countries centered on mutual recognition.
On a very positive note, I assured the Chancellor that with our reform-driven, transparent and accountable government, and our young and talented workforce, there is even more space for greater cooperation in economic investments and trade exchange.
So we talked about how we can further enhance Austria and Kosova’s already excellent bilateral relations, in politics, education, economy and culture.
I also invited Chancellor Nehammer to join one of the many Austrian economic delegations to Kosova this year.
Mr. Chancellor, you are hereby invited and thank you very much.
Last modified: January 13, 2023