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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, US President Donald Trump and Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti at their meeting in the White House
Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on economic rapprochement and want to strengthen their relations with Israel.
At a meeting in the White House in the presence of US President Donald Trump, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed an agreement on economic cooperation between the two countries on Friday.
With a view to normalizing economic relations, Trump spoke of a "historic day".
After years of failed political negotiations, his administration has proposed focusing on job creation and economic growth in order to bridge the differences, Trump said.
Vucic, Hoti and Trump signed an agreement to this effect on Friday.
Trump said the deal made Serbia and Kosovo "safer their countries, the Balkans and the world".
He is looking forward to visiting both countries "in the not too distant future".
Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, since it broke away from Serbia with NATO aid in 1999 and declared it independent in 2008.
Trump also announced that Serbia would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the example of the United States.
Serbia will open a trade office in Jerusalem this month.
The Serbian embassy should move to Jerusalem by July next year, said the US President.
According to Israeli sources, Serbia would be the first European country to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
"That's fantastic," said Trump.
"We really appreciate it."
After the three-way meeting in the White House, the US President announced that the majority Muslim Kosovo and Israel had also agreed to normalize their relationship and to establish diplomatic relations.
Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the end of 2017 and relocated the US embassy there from Tel Aviv in May 2018.
Since then, the Palestinians have been boycotting the US government.
Trump cites the relocation of the US embassy in the US election campaign as an important success for his administration.
Jerusalem is home to major religious centers for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Since 1967 Israel has held both the western and the Arabic-influenced eastern part.
The status of the city is one of the central issues in the Middle East conflict.
Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible capital".
Israel rejects the claim of the Palestinians to the Eastern part as the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Serbian head of state for his decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, according to a spokesman.
Netanyahu also paid tribute to Trump for his contribution.
Trump said, "I think we're going to have great peace in the Middle East."
Vucic and Hoti met in Washington for two-day talks that ended on Friday.
The meeting - which was originally supposed to take place in June, but was then postponed - was initiated by US diplomat Richard Grenell.
Grenell was formerly ambassador to Germany and now acts as Trump's special advisor to Serbia and Kosovo.
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