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The two leaders will hold separate meetings with European Union
foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before a three-way session and a
news conference expected later in the day.
"I am optimistic," Kurti said ahead of the meetings, taking place in
the lakeside town of Ohrid in North Macedonia.
"I came here with a good aim, with a good will and with trust that
what was agreed before...will continue here through the talks for
the implementation plan, and in this way have a final deal on the
normalisation."
Kosovo and Serbia agreed in Brussels last month to a Western-backed
deal to normalise relations, following nearly 10 years of
EU-mediated dialogue during which little progress was made. However,
agreement is still needed on an annex on implementing the plan,
which will be the focus of Saturday's discussions.
"The eyes of the EU & the Western Balkans are on Ohrid today,"
Borrell tweeted.
Serbia's constitution considers Kosovo an integral part of its
territory even though it declared independence in 2008. Belgrade and
Pristina need to mend bilateral ties for both to achieve their
strategic goal of joining the EU.
"I want to caution that we may not have a final agreement," Gabriel
Escobar, the senior U.S. diplomat for the Western Balkans who is
also attending the Ohrid talks, told Pristina-based RTV21 station.
"We are going to work towards finalising the annex, but I expect a
lot of progress."
NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 in response to the expulsion of Kosovo's
majority Albanians by Serb forces after which Belgrade lost control
of its southern province.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Additional reporting Sabine Siebold and
Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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