May 17 (SeeNews) - The time has come for a long-lasting solution in the dialogue with Serbia, Kosovo's EU integration minister Dhurata Hoxha told SeeNews on Thursday.
"You have seen from the statements by the [Kosovo] president and the prime minister that Kosovo remains committed to dialogue," Hoxha told SeeNews at an event organised by the Vienna Economic Forum on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia.
Now, it's time for this dialogue to yield results, she said.
"For us this long lasting solution, which will contribute to closing the chapter of the past but also to looking to the future so that we can all be members of the European Union as equal, is mutual recognition and membership or seat in the United Nations," Hoxha added.
"This will open the way for other EU member states [to acknowledge] that if two states with such a tragic history in the past came to terms and found a way for a peaceful agreement, then it is doable for other countries as well, and to recognize the progress that we have made together," Hoxha said.
Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade in 2008 following years of strained relations between its majority ethnic Albanian population and Serbs. More than 100 countries have recognised Kosovo as a sovereign state. Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of its former southern province.
While Serbia became an official candidate for EU membership in 2012, Kosovo is still considered to be a potential candidate by the European Commission.
No breakthrough in relations with the European Union could be achieved without a comprehensive normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia and full implementation of the agreements, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said last month.