Serbia recognizes the borders of Kosovo, after 9 years agrees to implement JBM in Merdare

 

Border point in Merdare

 After nine years, Serbia has started to respect and implement the agreement on Joint Border Management (JBM) which was signed in 2011 when Edita Tahiri was negotiating on behalf of the Kosovo side.

At the time of signing the agreement, the Kosovar side had stated that Serbia had legally recognized Kosovo's independence, while the Serbian side had said that the signing of the IBM agreement did not mean the recognition of Kosovo.

The US government and Trump's envoy to the dialogue, Richard Grenell, have reacted to the start of the implementation of such an agreement by Serbia, who have congratulated the Serbian state since they have already agreed to place customs in the joint building funded by the European Union at the border point in Merdare which the Serbian side nevertheless refers to as the administrative line.

"Great movement. Thanks go to President Trump. Serbia made functional the crossing in Merdare", it is said in the reaction of Richard Grenell.

The US Secretary of State's spokeswoman also commented on Serbia's move to move into the European Union-funded building, calling it a good step.

The US Ambassador in Belgrade linked such an action by the Serbian state to the developments and the September 4 agreement in Washington, where the parties also pledged to establish the MiniSchengen.

While the Kosovo Police for the Express newspaper has confirmed that they have long been located in the building of the European Union for Joint Border Management.

"Kosovo Police, in this case, the border officials have been deployed in time to the facility in question and are carrying out their duties according to legal authorizations and competencies," said the Kosovo Police Information Office.

The cornerstone of this border point was laid in February 2017, while Serbia had consistently refused to be placed in the joint building.

The Agreement on Joint Border Management was signed in Brussels in 2011 between Kosovo and Serbia when the negotiations from the Kosovo side were led by Edita Tahiri, while on the other side was Borko Stefanovic.