Regional Representation Agreement

Agreement within the framework of technical dialogue
Date of signing: February 24, 2012

Agreement status:
The agreement has been fully implemented

Parties / delegations

Borko Stefanović
head of the Belgrade negotiating team

Robert Cooper
Chairman – EU facilitator

Edita Tahiri
head of Pristina’s negotiating team

Officials

Boris Tadic
President of Serbia

Mirko Cvetkovic
Prime Minister of Serbia

Atifete Jahjaga
President of Kosovo *

Hashim Thaci
Prime Minister of Kosovo *

Background:

The aim of this Agreement was to enable Kosovo to participate independently in regional organizations and meetings. Before its signatures, Kosovo had problems participating and acceding due to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina denying its independence. Until then, UNMIK signed agreements on behalf on Kosovo.

This agreement enables Kosovo’s representatives to participate and cooperate in regional initiatives together with representatives of other countries in the region.

Thanks to this agreement, Kosovo got the opportunity to participate in regional initiatives such as CEFTA, Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the Brdo-Brijuni Process, but also in the Berlin Process that got Serbia and Kosovo together to discuss joint projects and programs, e.g. the Niš-Priština highway, the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), Transport Community, The Western Balkans Chamber Investment Forum …

The implementation of this agreement was followed by controversies, so it happens nowadays that the representatives of Serbia or Kosovo leave or refuse to participate in various events due to the failure to observe the provisions of the agreement.

The essential points of the Agreement

Implemented

Within the regional cooperation, Kosovo* ’shall be the only designation in use, with the footnote as follows: “This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1244 and the Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Kosovo declaration of independence.“

Implemented

Kosovo participates for itself and speaks for itself in all regional gatherings.

Implemented

The hosts of the meetings are encouraged to avoid placing national symbols other than their own and those of the EU, taking into account the statutes of relevant organizations.