Hovenier: We are in a crisis; it is not the time for Kosovo ministers to travel to the USA

The American Ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, said that it was not time for Kosovo ministers to travel abroad, because there was a crisis in Kosovo and they must engage in order to solve it, as reported by Albanian news portal Reporteri.

Hovenier said that when asked by a journalist whether Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu was denied a visa to visit the USA, and also added that it was not a problem to issue her a visa, but after the north of Kosovo events, it might not be time for ministers to travel to the USA for meetings.

"I cannot speak about specific or individual cases of issuing visas, but I am not aware of any circumstances in which a minister in the government would not have the right to receive a visa for official work," Hovenier says, and adds that other ministers should not travel to the USA either, in order to solve the crisis here.

He said that the officials in the Kosovo Government also received this announcement.

"Our opinion was that we should focus on the crisis," he concluded.

An earlier announcement stated that the Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Svecla's and the Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu's visits to Washington were canceled and that they were supposed to sign several agreements in the USA.