The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, is on a mission to Kosovo to greet the Italian contingent of the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the mission led by NATO.
“It is a great source of pride for me to convey the greetings of the Italian government to the women and men who serve in the KFOR mission”, the Minister said. He added: “Our most sincere thanks go to them and to all the Italian soldiers in the world for their service to the cause of peace and international security, especially on occasions like Christmas when we would like to be close to home and our dearest ones.”
The KFOR mission is an essential presence in Kosovo and the Balkans, to which Italy attributes the greatest importance for the stabilization of the region, also in view of accession to the European Union.
KFOR, established under Resolution 1244/1999 of the UN Security Council, is the Atlantic Alliance’s largest mission in a non-member country. To date, 29 NATO and partner countries have contributed to the KFOR forces. Italy is the main contributing country to the mission in terms of units deployed. This confirms the central role that our nation plays for stability in the Balkans region, which is even more significant today considering that Italy has also the leadership of the mission: with the current command, started last October 11 after having taken it over from Turkey, Italy has come to lead KFOR for 14 times.
Besides greeting a representation of the Italian contingent’s military, the Minister will visit the facilities of the KFOR mission and will have a meeting with the Italian commander, General Enrico Barduani. Minister Tajani will also meet the Head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission (Eulex), General Giovanni Pietro Barbano, a Carabinieri officer. Established in 2008, Eulex is the most important civilian mission of the European Union and is tasked with supporting the rule of law and the development of the country’s institutions.