Pacolli Tours Asia Seeking More Kosovo Recognitions

Kosovo's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, has started a diplomatic tour of Asia, seeking to drum up support for the country's quest for international recognition.

His office said that Pacolli will also take part in the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, OIC, that will take place in May 5 and 6 in Bangladesh.

The OIC, founded in 1969, calls itself the "collective voice of Muslim world", and comprises some 57 countries with a mainly Muslim population.

So far, 36 of the 57 OIC member states have recognised the independence of the mainly ethnic Albanian former Serbian province.  

"The participation in the conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers for Islamic Cooperation and official visits to other countries in this continent is of a special importance," an adviser to Pacolli, Jetlir Zyberaj, told BIRN.

According the ministry, Pacolli will meet a number of foreign ministers of countries that have not recognised Kosovo's independence.

The OIC "has 57 member states and with all the support and the sympathy that those states have for our country, a considerable number of them still do not recognise the independence of Kosovo," Zyberaj noted.

"We do not see any obstacles to the rest of the non-recognising states of this organization moving towards de facto recognition of the Republic of Kosovo," he added.

Before heading to Asia, Pacolli visited Rome, where he was hosted by his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano.

"This great country will help bring us more recognitions, visa liberalisation and our membership of different international organisations," Pacolli wrote on Facebook on Wednesday after the meeting with Alfano.

In March, Pacolli told...