April 19, 2006

Statement by Ambassador Frank G. Wisner, Special Representative
of the Secretary of State to the Kosovo Status Talks

Prime Minister. Thank you very much. You have made all the important points. It has been, ladies and gentlemen, a distinct privilege and honor to meet with the Prime Minister this afternoon, and to share with him the perceptions of the United States about the negotiations that are taking place over the future and the final status settlement of Kosovo. The Prime Minister and I had a very good meeting. I was able to assure you that Albania in the minds of Americans is a critically important partner in the achievement of peace. We need your advice, your assistance, and your support. For the final status of Kosovo will be everybody’s job to assure, in the region, and Albania has a vitally important role to play.

Prime Minister, my visit, as you know, has taken me from Brussels all the way to Tirana today, through Belgrade, and Pristina. I’d like to believe the negotiation is moving and now the job is to secure what President Ahtisaari must do -- agreement on decentralization, on religious rights, and on minority rights.

Prime Minster, I told you I’m an optimist and I believe we can see this forward. I am pleased to have had time in Kosovo as well to meet the new leaders, President Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Çeku. I have had an opportunity to see the work they are engaged in, while of course they have a huge job to extend a hand of reconciliation and orderly government to all the citizens of Kosovo. I believe the new government has started off very well and very strongly and the United States wishes Prime Minister Çeku well.

Prime Minister, I consider it an honor to have been received by you today, and I want to pledge the continued cooperation and consultation with your government as we go down the important road ahead of us, through 2006, to what we hope will be a conclusion and the achievement of final status for Kosovo and a page that turns in the life of the region, and that peace, stability, and prosperity will be in this region’s future. Thank you, sir.

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