Israel and Kosovo signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations in a virtual ceremony on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in September the two countries agreed to establish diplomatic ties, with the Muslim-majority nation apparently planning to open its embassy in Jerusalem in a deal brokered by the Trump administration.
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Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Kosovo's Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj Stublla attend a virtual ceremony to sign an agreement establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and Kosovo in the Israeli foreign ministry in Jerusalem
(Photo: Reuters)
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and his Kosovo counterpart Meliza Haradinaj-Stubll agreed on the virtual ceremony after the government closed Ben Gurion International Airport for all commercial flights in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.
This is the first time that bilateral relations will be signed online but the move received the Justice Ministry approval.
Also joining the ceremony were Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and U.S. Ambassador to Pristina Philip S. Kosnett.
"This is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the Kosovar people, who themselves hold warm ties with Israel," he added.
Ashkenazi also thanked the U.S. for their help in promoting the agreement.
Haradinaj-Stubll said that Kosovo has waited for a long time to establish ties with Israel, calling the ceremony "an important day on which we celebrate a new chapter for both our countries, who share a common fate."
"Today Israel has become the 117th country to recognize Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state," she said.
Haradinaj-Stubll also thanked Israel for offering asylum to some 100 Kosovar refugees who escaped to the country during the 1999 war with Serbia and noted Kosovo's aid to save Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
"Today we are writing a golden page in the history of both our peoples and nations," she said. "We invite Israeli companies to come and invest in Kosovo, and we are expecting many years of friendship. Shalom and Toda Raba (Hello and thank you in Hebrew)."
Kosovo also said it would be opening an embassy in the Israeli capital in July and announced it has already found a location. It will become the first predominately Muslim country to do so and the third country to have a Jerusalem-based embassy after the United States and Guatemala.
Following both top diplomats' statement, Ashkenazi unveiled the entry sign to the planned Kosovar embassy in Jerusalem, which for the time will be on display at the Foreign Ministry.
He also said he has approved Kosovo’s "formal request to open an embassy in Jerusalem."
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Former U.S. President Trump and representatives of Kosovo and Serbia sign a bilateral agreement in the White House in September
(Photo: AP)
Kosovo has never before recognized the Jewish state, while Israel refused to recognize Kosovo's independence in the past, fearing Serbian and Russian opposition to the move.
Kosovo with a population of 1.9 million. It declared independence in 2008 and was recognized by 99 countries. However it was never accepted into the United Nations because of a Russian veto against its potential membership.