 | |
 Kosovo |  Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Kosovo, Riyadh | none |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Lulzim Mjeku | none |
Kosovo–Saudi Arabia relations are foreign relations between theKosovo andSaudi Arabia. Like Saudi Arabia, Kosovo has a mainlyMuslim population.
TheSocialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo was an autonomous province of theRepublic of Serbia during theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1946–92), and then ofSerbia during theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia. Up until 1999 Saudi Arabia had no investments in, nor any direct relationship with, the province. During theKosovo War (1998–99), the Saudi government expressed support for the Kosovar Albanians, although it stopped short of supporting military action by NATO[1]. During theUN administration, Saudi Arabian organizations sought to establish a cultural foothold in Kosovo.[2]
Kosovodeclared its independence fromSerbia on 17 February 2008 and Saudi Arabiarecognised it on 20 April 2009.[3][4] Saudi Arabia has a Liaison Office in Pristina[5] and Kosovo planned to open an embassy in Riyadh later.[6] On 22 December 2009, Saudi ambassador Abdullah Abdulaziz (who is also ambassador toAlbania and to theRepublic of North Macedonia) presented his credentials to Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu.[7]
On 25 May 2009, at theOrganisation of the Islamic Conference's 36th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers inDamascus, the 57 member states adopted a resolution that noted Kosovo's declaration of independence, upheld the role of the United Nations in Kosovo, reaffirmed the strong interest of the OIC regarding Muslims in the Balkans, welcomed the co-operation of Kosovo with the OIC Economic and Financial institutions, and called on the international community to continue contributing to the fostering of Kosovo's economy.[8] Saudi Arabia was one of the main Islamic states backing this resolution and it has been reported that an earlier draft of the resolution (tabled by Saudi Arabia) had called for recognition of Kosovo by Islamic countries, but this was rejected by some member states, including Syria, Egypt and Azerbaijan.[9]
Saudi Arabia spoke in support of Kosovo at theInternational Court of Justice's oraldebate on the legality of Kosovo's independence in 2009.[10]
Like Saudi Arabia, Kosovo has a mainlyMuslim population.[11] The traditional Islam in Kosovo is the Hanafi school, described as 'liberal' and 'moderate'.[11]
|  | |||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ||
| Asia | ||
| Europe | ||
| Oceania | ||
| Multilateral relations | ||
| Diplomatic missions | ||
