The US Ambassador to Pristina, Philip Kosnett, left early the meeting with Kosovo officials, with the media reporting that the ambassador literally slammed the door behind him, furious at Ramush Haradinaj refusing to abolish the tax on Serbian goods and thus obstructing the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
The meeting between the US ambassador and Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and the Kosovo Parliament speaker, Kadri Veseli was supposed to be focused on suspension or abolition of import tariffs but it ended up without any official statements being given or a press conference.
Ambassador Kosnett has not comment on the meeting yet.
Kosovo‘s Lajmi.net website reports that the US is considering not granting visas to any of Kosovo‘s officials after Pristina rejected to annul or suspend the said tax, introduced last November.
According to the website, Washington will start implementing 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.
(Kurir, 31.01.2019)
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