Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias spoke about the need to reduce tension in Kosovo and called on everyone to be pragmatic and constructive. Dendias said this after the completion of negotiations with Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Jachka in Tirana.
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Prior to this, Dendias visited Belgrade and Pristina.
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“Stability, prosperity, peaceful coexistence are our main priority, as is the European perspective of the Western Balkans. This is a big challenge, and we must successfully cope with it. We have a very concrete step ahead, we must achieve a de-escalation of tension in the north of Kosovo. Everyone needs to show pragmatism, constructive attitude, taking the right action.The meetings I held in Pristina, as well as in Belgrade, emphasized the need to continue the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in order to reach a comprehensive solution,” Dendias said.
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He said that bilateral relations were also discussed in Tirana, including going to court on the issue of the exclusive economic zone.
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“We discussed at the political level a very important issue, accelerating the dialogue on the basis of the existing political agreement in principle, which we reached here in Tirana two years ago, in order to reach a compromise that will allow us to submit an agreed appeal to the International Court of Justice of The Hague on the issue of demarcation EEZ and the continental shelf,” the minister said.
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Greece and Albania agreed in October 2020 to refer to the International Court of Justice in The Hague the issue of the delimitation of maritime zones between the two countries.
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Greece and Albania concluded an agreement in 2009 on the delimitation of the EEZ, but then the Albanian parliament canceled it. According to the Greek media, this was done under pressure from Turkey.
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Dendias said the role of the Greek national minority in Albania and the Albanian community in Greece was also discussed, and said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would visit areas with a Greek minority on Thursday.
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The Greek Foreign Minister said that Athens supports the European perspective of Albania and strongly supports the accession to the EU of all Western Balkans.
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“I would like to reiterate from here in Tirana the absolute readiness of my country to provide any accession assistance to Albania in any area that you find useful,” Dendias said.
