Trump Appoints Another US Envoy to Balkans

A month after Donald Trump announced Matthew Palmer as the new US Special Representative to the Western Balkans, the White House said on Thursday that its top diplomatic representative in Germany, Richard Grenell, will be its new special envoy for the Serbia-Kosovo talks.

US media reported Washington's press release in which it said that Grenell has "extensive experience in political communication".

Grenell will keep his ambassadorship to Berlin while carrying out the Special Representative role, reports said.

Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli welcomed the appointment, saying on Twitter that it showed the US and Trump's "personal interest to achieve a legally binding agreement between two countries that leads to mutual recognition and peace in our region".

Pacolli added that Grenell will have the support of the Kosovo government. There has been no response to the appointment from Serbia so far.

Grenell's official biography on the US embassy in Berlin's website says that he was a partner with Los Angeles-based Capitol Media Partners, and served as a senior policy and communications adviser for public officials at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as for a Fortune 300-ranked company.

Grenell is also described as having been the longest-serving US spokesman and political appointee at the UN, having served there from 2001 to 2008.

In 2012, he briefly served as presidential candidate Mitt Romney's national security and foreign affairs spokesman.  "His appointment made him the first openly gay spokesman for a Republican presidential candidate," his official biography says.

Grenell has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, CNN and the

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