Ohrid, 18 March 2023 (MIA) — Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti have arrived in Ohrid to negotiate implementation rules for a planned agreement to normalize relations at a meeting held under the auspices of the European Union and hosted by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Prishtina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak are taking part in the mediation talks.

The meeting comes after President Vucic and PM Kurti on Feb. 28 in Brussels accepted an EU proposal to normalize their long-tense bilateral relations. Ahead of the talks, PM Kovachevski will meet with Borrell and Lajcak and will also hold tête-a-tête meetings with Vucic and Kurti.

North Macedonia was chosen as the host of the meeting because it set an example of solving all open issues with its neighbors in a peaceful and democratic manner, the government said.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by almost all EU states. Kosovo and Serbia both aspire to join the EU.

The normalization plan the EU has proposed to the two countries foresees, among other things, that Serbia will no longer block Kosovo's membership in international organizations such as the United Nations. In return, Prishtina should allow Kosovo's ethnic Serb-majority communities to form an association.

The Ohrid meeting has generated great interest in the world media and 230 reporters have been accredited to cover the event.

Ohrid has heightened security measures in place during the talks. mr/