Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Prime Minister. | Photo by Beta

Serbia’s Prime Minister says he intends to visit Albania to improve regional relations, frayed by the recent violence in Kumanovo, Macedonia.

“For each of our countries it is important to invest in peace and stability in the region, so that what happened in Kumanovo does not happen again,” Vucic said in Sarajevo, where he is participating in a business forum.

Gun battles between police and a little known armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 9 and 10 left eight policemen dead and some 37 wounded. At least 14 gunmen were also killed.

The Macedonian national security council said the group of several dozen people, led by Kosovo Albanians, had planned terror attacks across the country, intending serious destabilisation.

Following the events in Kumanovo, Edi Rama, the Albanian Prime Minister, and Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, cancelled a planned visit to the mainly ethnic Albanian town of Tetovo in Macedonia, scheduled for May 14.

Shkelzen Maliqi, Rama’s advisor, said that both Rama and Vucic were “paving an important milestone” in terms of regional relations.

“I believe the path will be what others will follow and remember, not those incidents in relations between Albanians and Serbs, and other nations, which want to take us back into the abyss of hatred, conflict and suffering.

“If over six or seven months we manage to correct matters that have been omitted for a century, it is a great thing not only in Albanian-Serbian relations but also for the entire region,” Maliqi told the daily newspaper Danas on May 13.

Vucic’s visit to Tirana would be first ever by a Serbian Prime Minister to Albania. His decision came after Rama visited Belgrade on November 10, becoming the first Albanian leader to visit Serbia since Communist dictator Enver Hoxha visited in 1946.

However, Rama’s visit was marred by an angry exchange between the two prime ministers over the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.

Rama said that Kosovo was now an independent country, recognised by 108 countries across the world and whose independence was supported by a decision by the International Court of Justice.

The Serbian premier called the remarks a provocation, and insisted that Serbia still saw Kosovo as a part of Serbia.

“I did not expect a provocation from Rama and did not expect him to talk about Kosovo… It is my job not to allow anyone to humiliate Serbia,” he said.

Relations between Serbia and Albania have long been poor, and worsened sharply during the conflict in the late 1990s in Kosovo.

But both countries are now striving to join the European Union and the visit has been touted as a way for Belgrade and Tirana to put past differences behind them.

However, the visit was postponed from October 22 after tensions spiked following unrest at the Euro 2016 football tournament qualifier between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on October 14.

The football match was abandoned when brawls erupted after a drone bearing a map of “Greater Albania” was flown over the stadium.

As fighting started on the pitch, some Albanian players were assaulted by Serbian fans who had invaded the field.

Serbian officials then accused Rama’s own brother, Olsi Rama, of holding the remote control for the drone, which he strongly denied.

Following the game, the Albanian and Serbian prime ministers had a sharp exchange of views on Twitter.