The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development Samantha Power said that the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo is a fundamental step that must be taken, to ensure the continuity of the process towards normalization between Kosovo and Serbia, which must conclude in mutual recognition.

Power made these comments during the first day of her visit to Kosovo.

“The agreement is there. There is an emergency in creating the Association of Serb Municipalities and we hope that at last, the dialogue has a clear picture in how it’s going to look. Even though parties disagree on modalities, this is the first time such a fundamental engagement happens,” said Power, underlining that the Association is hailed as very important by Serbian officials.

“Now that the ideas are presented, it’s important to reach a compromise so that the normalization can continue, which will lead to mutual recognition,” said Power.

The American envoy also said that the signature of the declaration on missing persons is only a step forward in knowing what happened to the 1,600 persons who are still considered disappeared.

“As a member of the National Security Council of President Biden, I’m also here to talk about the last agreement and the normalization framework and the importance of its implementation,” stated Power.