BACKGROUND PRESS CALL
ON THE SERBIA-KOSOVO ECONOMIC TALKS
Via Teleconference
1:07 P.M. EDT
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon. Thank you for joining this background briefing on the Serbia-Kosovo Economic Talks. Today we have [Special Advisor to the President] and [Senior Administration Official].
This call is embargoed until its conclusion and is attributable on background to a “Special Advisor to the President” and to a “Senior Administration Official.”
Our Special Advisor to the President will give brief remarks, and then we will go into Q&A.
With that, I will turn it over to [Special Advisor to the President].
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining. I am more interested in getting to your questions and starting in as quickly as possible, and I’ll answer as many as we have in the short time that we have.
So why don’t I just turn it over to try to get to the questions so that I can talk about what you want to talk about, rather than just some sort of statement.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Perfect. Moderator, we’ll go ahead and open up to questions.
Q Hi. Thanks for doing the call. Could you just lay out a little bit of what you expect to have happen on the fourth and what the presidential (inaudible) will be?
SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Ann, say that last part again. The President’s what?
Q What the President’s role will be. Is he going to be part of these discussions or meet with any of the people attending the summit on the fourth?
SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, first of all, he has been a part of these discussions. I’ve been talking to him pretty regularly about this.
Look, anybody who has been watching this kind of negotiation and the ask towards EU membership and the issues that have been developing, anybody who is a casual observer would realize that we’re kind of stuck on political discussions and we keep kind of pounding the same issues over and over without much progress.
What President Trump wanted to do was to see if a focus on economic development and job creation for young people could somehow change the dynamic of the situation. And so for the last, you know, more than a year, we have been solely focused on economic normalization, trying to find a way to move the parties into putting the political issues aside in order to create momentum around economic issues.
We’ve been very successful so far, even though the media hasn’t really focused on the historic three agreements that we’ve made around economic normalization, one of which is the first flight between Pristina and Belgrade in 21 years. We have an agreement on that. It has not been implemented. The flight has not taken place. We’re not there yet to open it up to travel and commerce. But the agreement is there.
So, you know, we had a problem in a transition government in Kosovo. We had a problem with COVID. But we are solely focused on implementing the air, rail, and motor agreements that we’ve already agreed on. Those agreements really are going to allow us to build economic development.
So, on Thursday, when we have our discussions, we’re going to further those three agreements and then add a whole bunch of issues to the discussions that would create commerce, that would create economic development and jobs.
So we have gone through this, kind of, list from both sides and picked and choosed what would be beneficial to the economy and to job creation.
You know, when I first got involved, the first thing that I did when I went to Pristina and to Belgrade: I got off the plane in both places and went straight to the business community. I didn’t want to go straight to the political community because I think that they have failed. They’ve largely failed to move us forward.
And meanwhile, the business is really frustrated. They’ve wanted to make progress, and the chambers of commerce on both sides have been talking. They have been -- you know, they don’t have many of these political problems that the media keeps focusing on. The business community has been frustrated enough to talk amongst themselves and to try to figure out the way forward.
So I heard from them immediately to figure out what are the things that need to happen. Their first request was rail and air, to normalize commerce. And so that’s what we’ve been working on for the past year. And now what we want to do on Thursday is really participate in this discussion to move forward economic normalization.
As for whether or not the President will participate in these meetings physically on Thursday or Friday, I think that has yet to be determined. He has already participated in terms of our side and what we can kind of push forward and how we prioritize these economic projects.
But at the end of the day, I think the parties need to be able to make progress in order for the United States to continue utilizing these mechanisms in such a powerful way. I mean, the fact that he’s asked me to do this from the outside is really a testament to the fact that we do believe that a concentration on the economic development side would produce progress, but we still need to test that theory.
Q Hello. Thank you for doing this. It’s been a -- really, a pleasure to hear about this. I have just two, three points. One is: The Russians are still harping on U.N. Resolution 1244 from 1999. And the foreign minister says that we don’t recognize Kosovo. That’s one.
The second one is: In June, EU Special Envoy Miroslav had said that, to quote him, “The EU cannot be left aside because it is offering [Serbia and Kosovo] a European future, unless you want to leave the European future aside.”
And then there has been talk about how the U.S. will take care of the financial cooperation, economic cooperation, and EU will take care of the political settlement. But if you remember that in November 2018, the Kosovo government imposed a steep tariff on imports. So that, sort of, derailed and suspended the dialogue.
So how are you going to move forward? And Thursday is still a few days away, so where are we going to go? And what are the factors that you are going to look into so that this, again, doesn’t get (inaudible)?
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I get your three statements. So here is the thing: I would refer you back to my long answer on question one. Everything that you just asked is very much a political-establishment-style question. And that’s exactly, I think, the problem that we’ve had in the past is to, you know, think about this in terms of a linear process and “Oh, the Russians say this” or “U.N. Security Council Resolution…” None of that matters to people who don’t have jobs in the region.
And so I think what you miss in your questions -- there’s a presumption that somehow -- that our failure over the last decade to make progress is accepted by the young people who are moving to Poland and to Hungary. And I would just challenge you to say: Why don’t you go to Pristina or go to Belgrade and listen to the people on the streets who are wildly frustrated with the political process and politicians who keep asking these same kind of U.N.-resolution-type questions.
Look, the fact of the matter is we’re going to make progress when we create jobs and do economic development. We can try your way, which is the -- you know, the politician’s way of wrestling through political issues first, and then we’re going to be in this position of still not having jobs for young people and no hope.
And so we’re going to flip the script, and we’re going to try to first give people some excitement about growth in the economy and let some of these political issues come secondary.
Q Yes, hello. Thank you for this opportunity. So I have three short questions.
The first one: Will the mutual recognition be one of the topics of the Friday meeting?
And then, what will be the nature of these meetings on the economic normalization? So will there be -- is this a one-off meeting, or will these meetings be continued with other such meetings or in White House or elsewhere?
And the last one: What about the statements from Serbian President Vučić, who is saying that the meeting on the fourth will be dependent on what happens actually on the 3rd of September meeting? Is there a chance that the Serbian (inaudible) will not participate on Friday meeting?
Thank you.
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I sometimes do these interviews, and I’m amazed that people don’t listen to my answers. I think I answered that completely in the first question.
The fact of the matter is, is we are having these discussions on Thursday. We will see what happens. It’s not a one-off, and it’s not an absolute to do the next meeting. We are open -- if the parties are willing to agree to economic development, the United States knows how to do this and we’re willing to help. So we need to make progress on economic development in order for the United States to stay focused on this.
I think, you know, what President Vučić said is exactly what I said in my first answer, which is: Who knows what’s going to happen on Friday? This is one of the problems I think that we have in this system, is that reporters and politicians are thinking linearly about this process, of “Well, Friday, what will happen? And Monday, what will happen?”
This is an art, not a science. And so we have to see if the parties -- and what our position is, is we’re testing them. Do these parties want to flip the script and move towards economic development, bringing in American businesses, American industries, European businesses, European industries?
There is a whole bunch of business leaders who are sitting on the sideline because they perceived conflict. So whether or not there is a conflict, there is a perception that the parties can't get along. And so, therefore, rental car companies are frustrated that if you rent a car in Kosovo, you can't drive it over the border into Serbia.
This is a problem of, you know, historic proportions, in that companies are frustrated. And so we can either sit around and continue talking about political issues that get us nowhere, or we can do something that President Trump thinks might work, and we're going to test it to see if it works -- is to create economic development that will then somehow change the dynamic amongst the political class because the regular people are excited about job growth.
Q Currently, Kosovo has a large trade debt with Serbia, with Kosovo currently importing 440 million euros’ worth of goods from Serbia. How will this week's discussions help make this relationship more equal?
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t think it's our job to make the relationship more equal. I think it's a bilateral issue for the two. What we're going to try to do is create industry and excitement in the economy so that both sides will be able to have more revenue into their government because more of their citizenry have jobs.
Q I would like to ask you whether President Trump and Europe is prepared to propose to Serbia and Pristina present during the meeting in Washington similar agreement as was reached recently between Israel and United Arab Emirates. Thank you.
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I'm sorry, I didn’t -- I didn’t quite hear. It was muffled. I didn’t hear the question. Could somebody repeat it for me?
Q I would like to ask you: Could you propose to Serbia and Pristina (inaudible) in Washington a similar agreement as it was recently between the United Arab Emirates and Israel?
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Ah, I see your question. Look, I don’t know if I can answer that because I think that's all going to be part of the discussions on Thursday. You know, we're going to have a discussion that will hit, I think, on every issue. We will test whether or not they -- there is a desire from the parties to talk about these issues. I think we'll present almost every issue. But it's going to be up to the parties on whether or not they want to move forward.
You know, despite what the media has been saying for more than a year, the United States does not have a secret plan. We do not have something that we're going to demand. What -- the only thing that we're going to demand is: If you want the United States’ help, if you want development dollars from the United States, then there needs to be progress on the economic front. We don’t want to waste our money, and so we don’t want to keep doing the same thing if it's not working. I don’t think that's fair to the American taxpayers.
So we're going to test whether or not the parties are interested. And I think that's one issue that certainly would be thrown out -- thrown on the table -- meaning, for discussion.
Q You are saying that you're going to be focused on the economic issues. And I wanted to see, at a certain point, when do you perceive that this will intersect with political progress that, as you said, it's necessary so the countries can develop, and whether you're going to pose any -- for a lack of a better word -- conditions to the political leaders to make this sort of progress?
And are you going to coordinate with the European Union since they also have a plan that focuses on economic development for the betterment of both of the lives of populations in both countries? Thank you.
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, two points. One, to your first question, if I could predict the future, I would go predict the lottery numbers and win millions and then completely be out of politics and live at the beach. So I have no idea how to predict the future on whether or not this is going to intersect politically or when.
On your second question, we have been coordinating with the EU. We will continue to coordinate with the EU. As [redacted], I know Mr. Hecker quite well, and I coordinate very closely with the Germans. I also have very closely coordinated with the French on an ongoing basis, and with other Europeans. So despite what the media says, we have been closely coordinating with Europeans, and they know our plan and are supportive of our plan.
Again, we are not a member of the European Union and are not involved in the very important process that the EU has with each of the parties. They have their own process. We are supportive of our friends in Europe. We do whatever we can do, but they are in charge, they determine the pace, they determine the discussion.
And so, you know, I would just say that the entire EU membership political issues are, you know, completely the responsibility of the Europeans, and we do what we can, when asked, to be supportive. But since we’re not a member, we really are not privy to those discussions.
When it comes to economic development, certainly the Europeans have a very healthy economic development and robust policies that they can implement. And that will help them on their political issues.
But for the Americans, our very vibrant economic development programs need to be used when they are beneficial. Under the Trump administration, we have really reformed our process of how we give out money and when we give out money. It’s not just a blank check. And we certainly don’t want to do it if it’s not working. And so this is one of those situations where we’re testing whether or not it’s going to work and whether or not we can participate.
Q Thank you. I have a few questions. First one: In addition to the talks on the economy, are you and President Trump open to any discussions about mutually (inaudible)?
And then also, I would like to ask you: What would you say would be the (inaudible) scenario that you’re going for, or that would you to continue to create success?
And final question: What is different and what you can do better than any other previous American administration was not able basically to do to resolve this historic problem? Thank you.
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Well, again, I will say on your third question, I would re-read by first answer, which is economic development and flipping the script. So I’ve answered that.
On your first question, I’m going to assume that you are quietly tip-toeing around some sort of a land-swap question. We -- I have never been privy to that conversation. That’s not something that I remotely discuss. I wouldn’t discuss it. It’s not part of our economic development discussions.
We, the United States, leave all of those types of discussions to the parties. And again, I don’t know how clear I need to be, but I’ve never been around those discussions in any of my conversations. It’s solely been economic, and that’s what we’re concentrating on, is economic normalization.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We have time for two more questions.
Q Hi. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear the entire answer of yours because of the operator was interrupting us. But can I just ask you: President Trump, in a letter to Kosovo’s President Thaçi, said that the U.S. “stands ready to assist [in] efforts to reach an agreement that balances the interests of both Kosovo and Serbia.” Can you tell us more about these “balances”? How -- what do you understand by the balances between the two countries? Do you see two countries making a compromise -- a kind of a compromise to reach any agreement?
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: So, first of all, I would say that we’re stuck in this process with the political class and the reporter class of over-analyzing words and creating all sorts of rumors and discussions around a word.
When we use the word “balance,” it’s just simply a word that says maybe we should balance the discussion between Serbia and Kosovo. There’s no secret meaning to the word “balance.” It just means “balance.” It means “fair.” And so we don’t have any secret plans. There’s no big, huge discussion that is going to be around the word “balance.” It’s literally going to be whether or not the parties agree.
I would say that the answer to the question is up to the parties. The parties would sign something that they feel is fair and maybe I would use the word “balanced.” So if the parties believe it’s balanced, if the parties believe they’re getting something and that they’re getting more than what they’re giving up and they think it’s a good deal, then they would sign. We don’t have a secret deal. We don’t have any demands. It’s literally up to the party -- to the parties.
What our role is going to be is pushing the two parties together to say, “Look, this is important. Let’s talk about economic development. Let’s talk about jobs for young people.” That will change the dynamics.
If you had a whole bunch of young people who suddenly were working for a brand-new industry, and that industry came to Kosovo and came to Serbia and it created all sorts of jobs because of the ability of the politicians to recognize economic normalization as important thing, I think that that gift to young people and their families, and the idea that people are going to stay in the region and build a life -- I think that that is worth something, and that will be felt on the ground.
And so I would really implore media and reporters who have covered the Balkans issue for 20 years to really put aside the normal linear thinking on what's going on and remember that the Trump administration is different. We do things a different way, and we're focused on trying to find results.
The Trump economy that was built before COVID was historic. It was incredible and exciting, and I saw a whole bunch of private companies from Europe scrambling to get to the United States to be a part of it.
We now want to help create excitement in the region. We think that these economic development programs are going to solve political problems. There's no secret plan that we have. We want to help create jobs and build an economic region that is based around freedom and democracy and human rights, and move us past some of these very complicated political issues that we've been talking about for decades.
Q Hello. You're speaking now as Special Advisor to the President on Serbia and Kosovo. In light of you joining the Trump campaign recently, are you still getting a government salary?
And also, in your recent claim that the President charmed Chancellor Merkel, she seems to laugh off that suggestion. So, do you stand by that? And could you elaborate on what you meant?
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, first of all, let me just say that you created fake news there because it's not true -- I'm not on the Trump campaign. I did not join the Trump campaign. I'm not being paid a penny for all of my work on Kosovo and Serbia, so I would hope that you could get that out there. I did join the RNC as a special advisor, but that’s not on the Trump campaign, so you were wrong on that front.
And then, lastly, I would just say, you know, I’m happy to show you all of the pictures of Chancellor Merkel and President Trump laughing together and being charmed. What Chancellor Merkel said, when asked about it, was that she wasn’t going to respond. Now, we had a whole bunch of advocates within the media immediately say that somehow that was laughing it off, and she said “no.” That’s not what happened at all. I would challenge you completely and ask you to Google all of the pictures.
And finally, I would just say that you weren’t in the room when I was when I saw the fact that President Trump’s style of diplomacy is absolutely charming with world leaders.
Now, I know that reporters laugh at that and they think that there’s no way because they see the press release or the comments later. But when you’re in the room and you see what this President does, he absolutely listens. I have heard leaders over and over say, “You know what? I can negotiate with the President because he listens and he negotiates.” He doesn’t go in and tell somebody exactly what to do.
Certainly, he’s going to push U.S. policy, just like when we’re in the room; the Germans will push German policy. And we have a discussion. But the discussion is, 95 percent of the time, incredibly calm and charming. I don’t back away from that word at all.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: All right. Thank you, everyone, for joining today’s call. As a reminder, this call is attributable, on background, to a “Senior Advisor to the President.”
The call is now concluded, and the embargo is lifted.
END 1:37 P.M. EDT
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