As part of her Balkan visit, Secretary General Hillary Clinton, arrived in Prishtina on Wednesday, October the 13th. While in town, Secretary Clinton met with Kosovo’s leaders, civil society representatives and held a “townterview” with the youth and the civil society. She also visited the Gracanica Monastery and met with the local leaders of the Serbian majority of Gracanica, a decentralized municipality.

Secretary Clinton arrived in Prishtina early afternoon. Before having a private meeting with Prime minister Hashim Thaçi, she stopped the motorcade to meet the cheering crowds at the Bill Clinton Boulevard, named after her husband. While there, she posed for pictures in front of President Clinton’s statue, which she later on praised. She also visited a small shop named in her honour “Hillary”, which is located next to the statue.

“As a brand new country with a dynamic, multiethnic population and the youngest population in Europe – as I saw in the streets with all the beautiful babies and children that I had a chance to see – Kosovo is called to do many things at once,” said Secretary Clinton while holding a press conference together with Prime Minister Thaçi, whom she also met privately with Acting President Krasniqi at Kosovo’s Parliament Building. Secretary Clinton, afterwards continued to congratulate the PM for his commitment to the future of Kosovo, and praised the effort both Kosovo and Serbia in relation to the upcoming negotiations, while reaffirming that they will not include “status, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Kosovo”.

Afterwards, Secretary Clinton visited Gracanica municipality where she visited the Monastery and met with the Mayor. She stressed the importance of preserving the cultural heritage and expressed her support for the decentralization process, through which municipalities such as Gracanica will become more autonomous.

Clinton’s visit in Prishtina ended with a public “townterview” where she answered questions from youth and civil society representatives of all Kosovar ethnicities.

To read the full transcript of the townterview click here.

Secretary Clinton’s Prishtina visit concluded her Balkans tour after which she headed to Brussels.

Tags: visits, politics, USA, clinton