Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds hosted a welcoming ceremony in the Iowa Capitol for the president of Kosovo on Tuesday.
Reynolds met with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani in June when Reynolds was on an overseas trade mission.
Osmani is among the leaders from 65 countries who’ll speak at World Food Prize events in Des Moines this week. Osmani’s first stop, however, was at the Iowa National Guard’s headquarters. Over 700 Iowa National Guard soldiers have done tours of duty in Kosovo and the Pentagon has tapped the Iowa Guard to help develop Kosovo’s security forces.
After the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, neighboring Serbia launched an attack on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and the NATO alliance intervened in 1999. Kosovo has been an independent state since 2008. Reynolds notes Iowa is one of two states that host a Kosovo consulate.
Osmani says the partnerships between Kosovo and the United States are reflection of shared values, common objectives and strategic interests.
Osmani is a lawyer and the first female speaker of Kosovo’s Assembly. She was elected president in 2021 — the second woman to lead the country in the past 15 years.
