“When I started out working at the State Department and at the White House, now I’m afraid to say more than 30 years ago, the issue, the question, the challenge that was front and center – this is during President Clinton’s administration – was the Balkans, first Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Kosovo. And so many of us have a long and deep history, no one more so than the President of the United States, President Biden. And I think you know that history well.

And so we’re strongly animated by the notion that we can’t go back to the future. We can’t have a repeat of what we saw and what too many people experienced in the 1990s, which is why we’re committed to supporting all of the efforts to advance the integration of countries in the Western Balkans, with each other and with Europe.

With regard to Kosovo and Serbia more specifically, the EU-facilitated dialogue is the right – in fact, I think the only – path forward. And we’re committed to doing what we can to support both countries as they travel that path. But I also have to applaud Albania’s role in being a force for regional stability, for regional integration, for regional progress. That is the path that so clearly brings everyone to a better future. And we know what the alternative is because we’ve experienced it, we’ve seen it.

So we’re resolute in doing everything we can in support of all the countries in the region taking that path. We very much support, as I said, the EU-facilitated dialogue. And we’ll work with Albania and others to try to help countries advance along that path, Blinken said.

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