Conference on Balkan Security and Kosovo Final Status

TIRANA, Oct. 21- The Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation organized Saturday, Oct. 21, an international conference on “Balkan Security and Kosovo Final Status”. The Conference had a widespread representation of panelists who brought valuable diverse experience and insights. The event aimed at giving one more chance to the voice of academia, which is usually marginalized in political debates. Discussions were conceptualized along two different lines: security and economics. The process of Kosovo’s final status negotiations has already started and may be finalized in 2006. The progress of the talks and their outcome will not only be of primary importance for Kosovo’s future but it will have direct repercussions on Balkan security and the process of Euro-Atlantic integration. The conference aimed at evaluating the relationship between Balkan security and Kosovo’s final status, a dynamic process with a lot of unknown variables. Discussions focused on three major thematic areas: Views from the region on Kosovo’s final status; Views from the international community on Kosovo’s final status; and Economic and governance challenges for post-status Kosovo.
The conference successfully brought together some of the leading expert voices on the issue and combined the political concerns with the economic ones. One of this conference’s achievements was to offer a unique opportunity to different actors, who otherwise would have unlikely chances to meet, to come together and discuss strategies of cooperation. All participants highly acclaimed the strengthening of dialogue and the replacement of conflictual politics with constructive debate.