In 2017 Bangladesh recognised the Republic of Kosovo. In 2019 Kosovo opened its embassy in Dhaka. During a recent visit to Bangladesh, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Kreshnik Ahmeti, spoke to Prothom Alo's diplomatic correspondent Raheed Ejaz about bilateral relations between the two countries, trade cooperation, easing the visa regime, and more
Q :
How do you evaluate your maiden visit to Dhaka including the first foreign office consultation between Bangladesh and Kosovo?
In 2017 Bangladesh recognised the Republic of Kosovo. And even though we had the pandemic crisis after that, we’ve developed relations considerably well. In 2019 we opened our embassy in Dhaka. We signed an MoU for political consultations and then another MoU for cooperation between our diplomatic academies. So even though in the years of the pandemic the world had stopped in a sense, our relations did not. Rather it is deepening and widening with time. Now I’m honoured as I’m part of the first political consultation in accordance with the MoU that was signed. It was very productive.
First of all, institutionally there is no need of visas for officials and diplomats. Right after the meeting we signed an agreement for visa waiver for such persons who hold diplomatic and official passports. Another good step we took during this visit was that we inaugurated our consular services in the Embassy of Republic of Kosovo in Dhaka. Prior to this, Bangladeshi citizens had to apply in Istanbul which was far away. They had to be physically present, but we didn’t have any other option. Now they have the chance to apply here in Dhaka and the process will be taken care of swiftly.
Q :
Do you think that providing visas from the Kosovo embassy in Dhaka will contribute to further enhancing bilateral ties?
When the process of applying for visas was in Istanbul, on an average 150 Bangladeshi nationals applied annually, mostly based on business. Now we think the interaction will increase much more.
Q :
So you expect much more interaction between the businesses of two countries.
I think it will be enhanced in general. First of all institutionally there is no need of visa for officials and diplomats, also for economic and cultural purposes. We are working with the ministry of culture to sign an agreement on cultural cooperation as soon as possible. And I think economy and culture will bring our people together.
About economy, we have complementary economies. Bangladesh has developed in the manufacturing sector. On the other hand, we have really developed in the service sector. And we have advantages as regards to our geographical location. In relation to Europe, we are an hour and a half flight from Istanbul, two hours from Frankfurt. And by road, we are three hours away from three ports of three different states, Thessaloniki in Greece, Durrës in Albania and Bar in Montenegro. In Albania, Kosovo has its own port in Durrës which will make it much easier to have much more trading. Our trade in 2021 was around 13 million euro and in the first 8 months of 2022 around 11 million euro. I think we can work more also on trade.
In culture, we have lot of similar characteristics. I can only say our path to independence is very similar. Your resistance started with the issue of language. Our resistance started with the issue of education. I believe we have similar painful histories and we can build a common future with development and equality. I think people to people relations between our countries will increase in future.
Q :
You have mentioned that the service sector and the manufacturing sector are the key elements for increasing economic relations. Is there any prospect of recruiting Bangladeshi nationals in Kosovo?
We are also thinking of this, through the economic cooperation agreement. Bangladesh's commerce minister positively accepted the proposal of creating a joint economic committee. In the joint economic committee, we cannot only keep it institutional but we can also include business.
Q :
Are you referring to the private sector?
Yes. I think business will find the best way. When I refer to manufacturing and services, it is just a general evaluation of the situation. Kosovo also needs labour intensive industries. And on this I have to say our unemployment is 20 to 24 per cent. So we have a number of our workers already unemployed and we are working to create new jobs. The figures are positive. Last year we have 10 point 7 per cent GDP. We had 80 per cent growth in FDI and around exports 30 per cent compare to last year. So the prospects are positive. Last year we 22000 jobs were created and a small portion of that was legalised from the grey market. In this sense, to have labour intensive industries beside service, we can employ the citizens of Kosovo who are unemployed right now.
Q :
Kosovo is applying for membership in various international forums including the United Nations, European Union and Council of Europe. What is the latest status regarding these?
Our goal is to join the UN, EU, Council of Europe and NATO. Currently the only formal application we have sent is to the Council of Europe. We applied for full membership on 12 May this year and the criterion is already fulfilled. So, we are now lobbying which is a relatively long and complex process. It will take a bit of time. In EU, we are planning to apply this year.
We have fulfilled the majority of the establishment and association agreements. Kosovo is the first country in the Balkans in regards to rule of law. We have all international indexes and have increased for 17th places for democracy and media freedom. So there is no reason why Kosovo should be the only country that has yet to apply for the European Union.
In many aspects we are better than our neighbours. This is going to happen by the end of the year. With NATO, we think that it is not only Kosovo’s interest of stability becoming part of NATO is of interest for the entire region and henceforth Europe’s stability. Kosovo has gained its freedom in 1999 and declared independence in 2008.
We have to understand that our northern neighbour Serbia has an aggressive approach towards us. For example, it is not understandable at all why Serbia needs to have 48 forward operational bases of its army in the line border with Kosovo. They are not defensive. They are forward operational bases. We believe the fact the NATO’s mission in Kosovo-KFOR is still there to bring stability. And we believe that is the one reason why now NATO is in Kosovo and Kosovo should be in NATO. Our army is progressing. Kosovo security forces are in a 10-year transition regular army. Our first goal is to be part of peace programme and the next step will be full membership in NATO.
Q :
What is the development in the UN?
In the UN, the problem lies with the Security Council where Russia and China do not recognize us.