Rubio meets with Djuric at the State Department today

2025-08-06 09:44:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric today, the US Department of State (DASH) announced.

The meeting will take place at the State Department at 5:15 PM, local time in Kosovo, while it is not known what the topics of discussion will be.

Also present at this meeting will be the senior official of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, Brendan Hanrahan, and Undersecretary Allison Hooker.

Hanrahan visited several Western Balkan countries in July, including Kosovo and Serbia.

During his stay in Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? stated that the topic of discussion with the American official was the need for economic cooperation between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump has announced that new trade tariffs will take effect on August 7. According to the decision, Serbia will be hit with 35 percent tariffs.

"I emphasized that Serbia remains committed to preserving peace and stability, and that we see dialogue as the only way to resolve open issues and respect international law," Vu?i? stated after meeting with the American official, with whom he said he had also discussed the situation in the Balkans.

Meanwhile, in Kosovo, Hanrahan met with the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and party leaders. During the meetings in Kosovo, the American official had discussed the political crisis and the rights of the Serb community.

Serbia constantly accuses Kosovo of violating the rights of the Serbian minority in Kosovo, constantly criticizing the actions of Kosovo institutions in the north of Kosovo, inhabited by a Serb majority.

The closure of Serbian institutions in Kosovo, which began last year, has been criticized by the US and the European Union, saying that these actions were taken without coordination.

Djuric's visit to Washington comes at a time when Serbia has warned that there can be no dialogue with Kosovo for the normalization of relations, which is being mediated by the European Union, after a Serbian official was arrested in Kosovo in July.

Kosovo has filed an indictment against the assistant director of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, Igor Popovic, – who has been in detention since his arrest on July 18 – for “inciting discord and intolerance.”

During a speech in Rahovec, he called the Kosovo Liberation Army a "terrorist organization." Serbia has demanded his immediate release and has raised the issue of his arrest in meetings with ambassadors accredited to Serbia, as well as with the head of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres./ REL