In another diplomatic win for President Trump, Serbia will become the third country to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
After the United States led the charge in 2018, followed by Guatemala two days later, Serbia agreed to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem on Friday, and Kosovo, a majority Muslim country, said it would recognize the Jewish state for the first time.
“Truly, it is historic,” Trump said at the White House, flanked by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovan Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti. “I look forward to going to both countries in the not too distant future.”
After the meeting, Trump followed up by congratulating Vucic on Twitter. He called it a “brave and historic move.”
Congratulations to @predsednikrs Vucic for announcing the move of Serbia’s Embassy to Jerusalem by July. It is a brave and historic move!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
The latest announcement follows a Washington summit between the two nations, during which Vucic and Hoti agreed to cooperate on economic matters. The small, landlocked region of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It has since been recognized by many countries, although Serbia does not acknowledge its sovereignty, making the announcement of economic cooperation a major step in bridging the divide between the two Balkan countries.
“Serbia and Kosovo have each committed to economic normalization” Trump said. During the Oval Office announcement, the president thanked Richard Grenell, special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations, for his work facilitating the summit.
“Let’s give them a little taste of the Trump economy,” Grenell said Friday. Grenell is also the former U.S. ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence.
Vice President Mike Pence was on hand and thanked both Vucic and Hoti for their “commitment to peace.”
The summit was previously postponed in June after Thaci was indicted by The Hague and charged with 10 counts of war crimes against humanity. Thaci was also accused of being complicit in enforced disappearances and torture as a leader in the Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic-Albanian militia that fought for control of the territory in the 1990s. He denies all the charges.
The Friday news from the summit follows another major diplomatic coup for Trump, who helped broker a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Earlier this week, U.S. and Israeli delegations arrived in the UAE on the first commercial flight between the two Middle Eastern countries. The UAE is the third Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel, and there is speculation that other Arab nations may soon follow suit.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for comment.
