Annual review of Kosovo's foreign affairs

February 2020

Kosovo's diplomatic battle to become an equal member of the international society continues twelve years after declaring independence. Since 2008 Kosovo has scored significant progress in fostering its institutional structure and international recognition by now being recognised by the majority of UN members and being part of several important multilateral mechanisms. On the other hand, Kosovo's international legitimacy continues to be impaired by being out of major international organizations such as UN, NATO, Council of Europe and OSCE and not recognised by five EU member countries. Since its establishment in 2008 Kosovo's foreign policy is largely aligned and executed in coordination with its partner Western countries, however it also has to face continuous counter-diplomacy of Serbia and Russia who extensively attempt to block Kosovo's integration. Amidst these challenging international dealings, increasing Kosovo's international integration coupled with combating Serbian counter-diplomacy have been the predominant challenges of Kosovo's foreign policy and diplomatic mission. The following report examines Kosovo's foreign affairs in 2019, analysing its implementation process, as well as international developments which may have influenced its results, divided on these sections: diplomatic recognition, bilateral relations, normalisation of relations with Serbia, EU integration and multilateral relations. An additional section discusses challenges in the internal functioning of the MFA and recommendations on overcoming them.