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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. In a heated meeting

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Speaker 1: at the United Nations last week, Kosovo defended its decision

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Speaker 1: to enforce a euro as a country's only currency, but Serbia,

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Speaker 1: the European Union, and the US have heavily criticized a move,

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Speaker 1: saying the regulations may disrupt payments to ethnic Serbs. Now,

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albinkirti says the new rules

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Speaker 1: are non negotiable and he joined me for an exclusive conversation. Partnerster,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. This certainly has

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Speaker 1: made a lot of your allies very alarmed on what

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Speaker 1: happens next. We've had criticism from the US, We've had

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Speaker 1: criticism from the EU. You've refused to back down. Is

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Speaker 1: that your final word?

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Speaker 2: A Central Bank of Kosova made this regulation, so it's

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Speaker 2: an independent state agency. It's not a decision of our government,

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Speaker 2: and it was not made in January this year, but

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Speaker 2: in December last year, preparations were going on and everything

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Speaker 2: was going smoothly, precisely out of success for preparing for

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Speaker 2: this new regulation. Belgrade has set an alarming tone with

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Speaker 2: intention to cause ethnic tensions. Just like we have switched

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Speaker 2: from car plates km from Miloshevich time to new Rks.

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Speaker 2: We're going to do this.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the concern is that a lot of people

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Speaker 1: that you really reply on right rely on your partners

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Speaker 1: in the U and the US, have taken this at

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Speaker 1: a provocation. I mean, they say, you're cracking down uncertain

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Speaker 1: minority in northern Kosovo. You surely could call the Central

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Speaker 1: Bank and say, like, politically, this is not a good thing,

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Speaker 1: let's traverse this.

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Speaker 2: I cannot do that because we are a democratic republic

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Speaker 2: and independent state agencies are not subjugated to the government.

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Speaker 2: That's why we're going to do a smooth transition. We're

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Speaker 2: going to do a hotline where serbs can call and

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Speaker 2: complain for whatever is not okay according to them, but

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Speaker 2: we are we cannot reverse this decision. So they ask

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Speaker 2: for more time, and we're giving more time. And even

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Speaker 2: our American and European partners now are saying that a

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Speaker 2: regulation is legal because it's fighting terrorists financing illicit activities,

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Speaker 2: but we should not be too hasty in absolute implementation.

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Speaker 2: And this is what we're going to do. Throughout this

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Speaker 2: month of February.

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Speaker 1: Custurer is also preparing for municipal elections right in the North,

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Speaker 1: which local serves boycotted last time, leading to the unrest

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Speaker 1: that we saw in May. How will this concerns with

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Speaker 1: the currency affect those elections.

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Speaker 2: We have been giving social benefits payments to all serves

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Speaker 2: of Kosova who are our citizens. Are not only Prime

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Speaker 2: Minister of Albanians, even though Albeians are ninety three percent.

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Speaker 2: We have four self war Serbs and thousands of families

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Speaker 2: and tens of thousands of individuals receive payments in euro.

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Speaker 2: We are not banning dinar, We're just formalizing it. We're

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Speaker 2: just making things legal regarding these electricisms.

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Speaker 1: They can't use dinars, so if you don't ban it.

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Speaker 2: But they can have dinars and there are ten commercial

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Speaker 2: banks in Kosova whereas means of payment they can exchange

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Speaker 2: into Euro. Dinars where our currency during occupation in previous century.

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Speaker 2: Since liberation in nineteen ninety nine, we had first Deutsche

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Speaker 2: mark German market, then from two thousand and two we

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Speaker 2: had euro.

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Speaker 1: So what is your endgame with Serbs in the North.

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Speaker 2: Well, we want them to integrate in the society and

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Speaker 2: vast majority of them have done so. They have cost

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Speaker 2: of our ID cards they have cost of our passports.

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Speaker 2: They work together. The problem is not servis of Kosova.

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Speaker 2: The problem is Aurooquatic regime in Belgrade, which is a

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Speaker 2: Russian proxy. It's a client regime of Kremlin, and they

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Speaker 2: are doing this pre apocalyptic alarming in inciting ethnic tensions

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Speaker 2: because they want to cause troubles in the Balmain.

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Speaker 1: I mean not sure. So how do you see the integration?

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Speaker 1: What does that look like? You talked about IDs, how

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Speaker 1: do you see it more concretely?

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Speaker 2: Almost three years ago I won on this ticket of

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Speaker 2: jobs and justice. I believe that justice integrates people, fairness

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Speaker 2: in the institutions, social justice and also court justice. But

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Speaker 2: on the other hand, we are also providing jobs for

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Speaker 2: people despite their ethnicity. Employment in Kosova in comparison to

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Speaker 2: three years ago increased by around eighteen percent, and that's

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Speaker 2: why we want all communities to benefit from the economic

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Speaker 2: growth of Kosova, which is over six percent of GDP

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Speaker 2: in average in these last three years.

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Speaker 1: PRIMI are a number of international backers, of course, have

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Speaker 1: already withheld aid because of some of your actions. Will

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Speaker 1: you continue to do this despite economic repercussions.

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Speaker 2: I want peace and security, but I want peace and

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Speaker 2: security through democracy, through rule of law, and through constitutionality

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Speaker 2: of our republic. So I'm not going to give up

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Speaker 2: on one for the sake of the other.

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Speaker 1: How will you replace missing funds?

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Speaker 2: We are giving all our financing programs and social benefits,

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Speaker 2: health care, grants, for education, for pensions, for retirees to

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Speaker 2: all serve, just like we do for the albaniance. In

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Speaker 2: addition that you see from Serbia some payments and they

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Speaker 2: can do that because Serbia can send dinars, but in

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Speaker 2: the ATMs they're going to receive uros. There will be

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Speaker 2: this exchange from dinar to euro. We are not going

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Speaker 2: to have any kind of punitive measures. We don't want

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Speaker 2: to punish anyone. We want to help Serbs. I'm Prime

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Speaker 2: Minister who wants people to have more money, not less

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Speaker 2: mons and I think we're going to come out victorious

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Speaker 2: from all this crisis which has been caused by Belgrade,

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Speaker 2: not by local search.

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Speaker 1: But Prime Minister, there's an understanding right amongst international institutions

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Speaker 1: that what you've done is antagonizing. And when you were elected,

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Speaker 1: promise to dialogue with the Serve. So are you backing

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Speaker 1: down on that promise or what was this a misunderstanding.

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Speaker 2: On the contrary, we have an agreement with Serbia. On

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Speaker 2: twenty seventh of February this year, it will be one

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Speaker 2: year that in Brussels we made this basic treaty. The

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Speaker 2: problem is that Serbia is not signing it and is

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Speaker 2: not respecting it. So I think that appeasement of Serbia

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Speaker 2: should stop from both Brussels and Washington DC. I believe

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Speaker 2: that they are considering Serbia as a kind of irrational

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Speaker 2: actor which has to be appeased. I think we need accountability, transparency,

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Speaker 2: European Union and native for the entire Balkans, and Kosova

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Speaker 2: has no alternative to that.

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Speaker 1: Premier, how important is it that you signed something sooner

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Speaker 1: rather than later. We could see Donald Trump at the

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Speaker 1: White House. He has been more supportive of Serbia.

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Speaker 2: I think it's important to do this as soon as possible.

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Speaker 2: But then again, we cannot force Serbia. It is European

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Speaker 2: Union and US who can do that. Meanwhile, Serbia is

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Speaker 2: taking armament and ammunition from both Russian Federation and China,

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Speaker 2: and they want American tolerance and EU money in addition.

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Speaker 1: But the way you're talking Prime Ministry makes it very difficult.

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Speaker 1: Right for the normalization to start is that how would

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Speaker 1: you assess the current relationship?

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Speaker 2: We have seen last year Belgrade agreeing to the texts

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Speaker 2: of agreements due to pressure of EU and US. So

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Speaker 2: basically functions and works, but it has to be done

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Speaker 2: by Brussels and Washington d C. We are the most

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Speaker 2: democratic country in Western Balkans and according to Freedom House

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Speaker 2: Transparency International World Justice Project when it comes to anti corruption,

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Speaker 2: when it comes to political rights and civil liberties, Kosova

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Speaker 2: is number one among six countries of Western Balkans which

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Speaker 2: still are not part of European Union.

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Speaker 1: I understand one of the lindpinners of course Association of

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Speaker 1: Serb Municipalities and Costovo. How's that going?

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Speaker 2: That is now turned into so called self management of

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Speaker 2: Serbian community? Is article seven of basic treaty that we

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Speaker 2: have done last year. It has also an implementation annex

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Speaker 2: from March last year. But out of eleven articles, Serbia

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Speaker 2: already violated eight of them and mid December last year,

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Speaker 2: Madam Prime Minister Bernabish from Serbia sent a letter to

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Speaker 2: you saying that they are basically withdrawing from the agreement.

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Speaker 2: So for me it's very difficult to proceed further when

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Speaker 2: they don't sign the agreement, don't respect it, they do

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Speaker 2: violations and finally they sent a letter where they say

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Speaker 2: they don't obey to it anymore.

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Speaker 1: Tensions are high. How do you see the Balkans in

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Speaker 1: terms of security in the next ten years.

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Speaker 2: We wouldn't have these tensions if we would have the

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Speaker 2: fact and Deura recognitions among all the countries. Serbia recognizes

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Speaker 2: de Urre Montenegro and Bosnian Herzegovina, but not de facto.

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Speaker 2: On the other hand, they do recognize as de facto

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Speaker 2: but not the Yurre. We need all the region into

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Speaker 2: EU into NATO. But for this reason Belgrade has to

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Speaker 2: put sanctions to Russian Federation and adhere to Western democratic values.

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Speaker 1: Do you accept that maybe the DNR situation that you

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Speaker 1: say the Central Bank has put in place is not

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Speaker 1: ideal timing.

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Speaker 2: No, I think that it was long overdue. We need

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Speaker 2: to legalize banking and financing. All financial institutions must have

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Speaker 2: their own license from our republic, and that's what we're doing,

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Speaker 2: so there will be no more sex with cash dinar

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Speaker 2: coming from Belgrade to Kosova to destroy political pluralism and

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Speaker 2: to finance terrorist organizations who killed our policemen on twenty

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Speaker 2: fourth of September.

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Speaker 1: Lass Some institutions say that, you know, the timing is

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Speaker 1: not perfect, but primister, thank you so much for your time,

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Speaker 1: of course, for coming on Bloomberg with us. That was

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Speaker 1: Albin Courti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo. This is Bloomberg