World News| President Murmu paid a state visit to Serbia by plane

paramaribo [Suriname]June 7 (ANI): After wrapping up her visit to Suriname, President Droupadi Murmu departed for Serbia, the next leg of her two-country tour.

At the invitation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, she will pay a state visit to Serbia on June 9.

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Murmu visited Suriname from June 4 to 6 at the invitation of Suriname’s President Chandrika Pesad Santoshi.

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President Murmu’s visit to Serbia comes amid rising tensions over the past week in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. There have been reports of multiple clashes with protesters over the appointment of an Albanian-born mayor in a disputed election. As many as dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured in clashes with Serbs in northern Kosovo this week, raising fears of a larger escalation between Serbia and Kosovo, The New York Times reported.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that India does not recognize Kosovo’s declaration of independence and the situation in the country will not affect President Murmu’s visit to Serbia.

MEA Secretary West Sanjay Verma told a special briefing on the president’s visit to Suriname and Serbia: “Well, we are aware of the recent unrest in Kosovo, the southernmost part of Serbia. We have no reason at the moment As I said, we should be concerned about these events or any impact on our president’s state visit, and the hosts have not suggested anything else to us.”

“On Kosovo, our position is very clear and consistent, we do not recognize Kosovo’s declaration of independence. However, we also believe that any differences need to be resolved through dialogue,” Verma added.

He said he hoped that the unrest in the country over the past few days would be resolved peacefully through negotiations and that the situation would de-escalate.

Responding to a media question asking if the president’s visit was planned before the political crisis, Verma said it was pre-planned.

“For the record, it was a long-term invitation. I don’t remember exactly how long, but at least it was more than a year, a year and a half. I think it had to be a rescheduling because of the conflict in Ukraine. Now we think it’s going to be done. Favorable timing for the visit,” Verma added.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty and is backed by China, Russia and five other EU countries that also do not recognize the country. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)