stability in the region. A comprehensive, legally binding normalization agreement is urgent and crucial so that Serbia and Kosovo can advance on their respective European paths. The lack of stability is clear due to the lack of consensus as well as an increase in violent developments. On 16 January 2018, Kosovo Serb politician, Oliver Ivanović, was assassinated in North Mitrovica and on 26 March 2018, the former Director of Serbia’s Kosovo office Marko Đurić was arrested and deported after illegally entering Kosovo and attending a meeting in North Mitrovica. From 2018 until July 2020, talks between Serbia and Kosovo halted. The negotiations ceased due to the increasing violence, particularly the expulsion of Marko Ðurić as well as the introduction of a 100% tariff on imported goods from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina by Kosovo government. Despite the stall in negotiations, the European Union continues to support open dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. September 2020 talks In July 2020, attempts were made to revitalize the negotiations by the EU. However, progress was made at the Kosovo and Serbia economic normalization agreements in Washington D.C. on 4 September 2020. While not a legally binding document, the international document provided a declaration of will and political commitment by both Kosovo and Serbia. On 7 September 2020, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti met for talks in Brussels, hosted by Josep Borrell under the auspices of the European Union. At a press conference after the talks, EU Special Representative for the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue Miroslav Lajčák stated that "full progress" had been made in the areas of economic cooperation, missing persons and displaced people. Vučić and Hoti met again in Brussels on 28 September 2020 where they discussed arrangements for minority communities, the settlement of mutual financial claims and property and attempted to make progress towards a more comprehensive agreement. Washington Agreement (2020) On 4 September 2020, under a deal brokered by the United States, Serbia and Kosovo agreed to normalise economic relations. The deal will encompass freer transit, including by rail and road, while both parties agreed to work with the Export–Import Bank of the United States and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and to join the Mini Schengen Zone, but also to commence rail links between them such as Niš-Pristina and Pristina-Merdare and to connect the Belgrade-Pristina rail network with a deep seaport on the coast of the Adriatic Sea