Kurti concludes visit to London: United Kingdom a key strategic partner of Kosovo

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has concluded his two-day visit to London, where he met with officials and participated in a discussion hosted by ODI Global as well as the London Defence Conference.

Summarizing the visit, Kurti stated that it began with a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, during which he emphasized Kosovo’s commitment to deepening cooperation.

“I began my official visit to London with a meeting with the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, marking the second visit in the past six months. At that meeting, I expressed gratitude for the United Kingdom’s continuous support for Kosovo, highlighting the multifaceted and stable relations between our two countries, built on shared democratic values and a commitment to security and prosperity. I assessed the United Kingdom as a key strategic partner and reiterated our commitment to further deepening bilateral cooperation,” he said in a Facebook post.

This was followed by meetings with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and participation in an ODI Global discussion.

“I also met with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Odile Renaud-Basso, to whom I expressed gratitude for the significant financial support for Kosovo’s development. We discussed continued support for the growing private sector and public infrastructure projects such as energy, water, and public transport. The visit continued with participation in a panel organized by ODI Global, where together with Executive Director Sara Pantuliano and Dora Meredith, as well as renowned economic analyst Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, we discussed economic statecraft and global stability. In the evening, I attended a dinner hosted by the Minister of State for Defence, Lord Vernon Coaker, where we discussed defense cooperation and broader security issues,” the Prime Minister added.

The following day, Kurti participated in the London Defence Conference, alongside officials from several European countries and the United States.

“On the second day of the visit, I had the pleasure of participating in the opening panel of the London Defence Conference, in its fourth edition, together with the United Kingdom’s Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Dame Karen Pierce, Republican Congressman from North Carolina Pat Harrigan, Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Armed Forces General Onno Eichelsheim, as well as Professor Julian Lindley-French. The discussion focused on understanding defense and readiness in a time of multiple global crises,” he said.

As he noted, he also spoke with the conference director about “threats from Serbia and Russia.”

“After the panel, I gave an interview to the conference director Ian Martin, where the conversation focused on Kosovo’s path toward the European Union and the security challenges and threats coming from Serbia and Russia, as part of an upcoming podcast. The visit concluded with a dinner with the renowned historian and academic Sir Noel Malcolm of the University of Oxford, one of the most prominent international voices on the history of Kosovo,” Kurti said.