Petkovic: Solution must include continued Postal Savings Bank operations in Kosovo-Metohija

BRUSSELS - For Serbia, it is important to find a solution in the dialogue with Pristina that will include continued operations of the Postal Savings Bank in Kosovo-Metohija, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said in Brussels on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after a new round of the Brussels dialogue, Petkovic noted that the Serbian bank had been operating in Kosovo-Metohija since 2018 and had five branch offices in the province.

In cooperation with the Post of Serbia, it has been executing money transfers in areas south of the Ibar River and it has over 50,000 accounts belonging to individuals as well as institutions, he said.

"Why reinvent the wheel now and make the already difficult position of the Serbs even more difficult when the solution already exists? It is just a matter of whether someone wants that solution or not. Or simply wants an expulsion of the Serbs as the ultimate objective," Petkovic said.

The most important thing for Serbia is to find a solution that will enable Serbian citizens in Kosovo-Metohija to receive payments from Belgrade, he said, referring to Pristina's ban on the Serbian dinar.

"The Republic of Serbia makes payments to all the accounts of our citizens regularly and in a timely fashion. The problem is that the payments cannot be received either at the Postal Savings Bank or post offices south of the Ibar because there are no dinars," Petkovic also said.

In a statement to Pristina-based Koha daily, Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi said Belgrade and Pristina would by Friday propose ways of resolving the issue and added that he expected it to also be discussed next week.