Ambassador Jacobson's remarks after the meeting with Minister Rexhepi, August 27, 2012

August 27, 2012

Ambassador Jacobson meets with Minister Rexhepi.

It's been a pleasure for me to have my first meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister Rexhepi, this morning.  As you know, strengthening of the rule of law is one of the U.S. government's priorities here in Kosovo.  And I'm happy to hear that our cooperation has been very successful and useful in this regard.  We have a robust program of police cooperation through our ICITAP program, and we're also working through our OPDAT program on important legal reforms and I assured the minister that this cooperation is going to continue.  

As the minister noted, the fight against organized crime and corruption is very important.  We believe it's important for Kosovo's further development, including its economic development.  And we hope to play a useful role as strong partners in building the capacity of the Government of Kosovo to fight these kinds of crimes.