Kosova: Bosnian Government Refrains from Considering Recognition
The incumbent minister of foreign affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced that the recognition of Kosova and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries has no place on the current government’s agenda. The minister also denied claims that Bosnian authorities are working on visa liberalisation for Kosovar citizens.
Below is an article by b92.net (Source Tanjug)
Bosnia-Herzegovina has not recognized Kosovo and the issue will not be "opened and treated" during the current government's mandate.
This has been stated by the minister of foreign affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Igor Crnadak, who also denied that "in the coming period" one of the topics on the agenda of the Council of Ministers would be "abolition of visas for citizens of Kosovo."
"Bosnia-Herzegovina wants to do everything to facilitate movement of citizens, goods, and services in order to enable as normal as possible functioning, but the abolition of visas will not be discussed. The EU has not canceled visas for citizens of Kosovo," said Crnadak, according to the daily Nezavisne Novine.
A business forum "BiH-Kosovo" was held "for the first time since 2008 when that state introduced visas for citizens of Kosovo" and heard that Bosnia's economy was "losing a million euros a day because of the visa regime."
Pristina also introduced visas for Bosnia-Herzegovina citizens as a "reciprocal measure" in late 2013.
The process is complicated and so citizens who reside in Kosovo must go to Skopje to apply for visas while citizens of Bosnia travel to Tirana or Zagreb. The Foreign Ministry in Sarajevo said that it issued 612 visas to citizens from Kosovo and that no application had been denied.
Photo courtesy of b92.net
