Albin Kurti: Dodik is trying to be a bigger opponent of Kosovo than Belgrade itself

PRISTINA, (Patria) - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Igor Crnadak will host an informal meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP), which will be held on September 5, 2018, at Banski dvor in Banja Luka, as part of Bosnia and Herzegovina's one-year presidency of this regional initiative.

Bosnia and Herzegovina took over its second presidency of the SEECP in April from Slovenia, it was announced from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Behgjet Pacolli, postponed his visit to Banja Luka after the president of the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that the Kosovo minister was not welcome in Banja Luka.

Pacolli subsequently stated that he was surprised by Dodik's reaction, considering that, as he said, he had met with Dodik before.

Commenting on the message Dodik sent to Kosovo with statements that a minister from that country's government is not welcome in Banja Luka, the president of Self-Determination, the largest opposition party in Kosovo, Albin Kurti, told Patria that Dodik is trying to be a bigger opponent of Kosovo than official Belgrade, and more pro-Russian oriented than the current Serbian government.

It is still unknown what response the Kosovo government will take after Dodik's messages. Out of 52 companies exporting from BiH to Kosovo, as many as 47 are from the BiH entity of Republika Srpska. Some analysts believe that Kosovo's response to Dodik's behavior towards that country could be precisely through export restrictions for these companies.

The SEECP has thirteen participating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, and Kosovo.