Germany was one of the first countries to officially recognise the Republic of Kosovo and establish diplomatic relations with it after it declared independence in 2008. Furthermore, the country’s government and people have not forgotten that Germany took in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Kosovo before and during the 1998/99 conflict, or that from 1999 onwards it helped with reconstruction efforts, initially through emergency relief measures and shortly afterwards by commencing development cooperation.

In addition, there is a sizeable Kosovar diaspora in Germany with a total of more than 500,000 Kosovar nationals and people originally from the Republic of Kosovo, making it the world’s largest Kosovar diaspora.

Germany is actively supporting the country in its efforts to integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures.

Germany also contributes to international missions in Kosovo: The German contingent that is part of KFOR is currently the largest deployment of the Bundeswehr abroad. The police officers, judges, public prosecutors and civilian experts deployed as part of the UN‑led mission UNMIK, the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo EULEX and the OSCE‑led mission OMIK have helped to further strengthen the good relations between the two countries.

Germany is Kosovo’s second most important trading partner, its largest investor and one of the largest bilateral donors in the field of development cooperation. Since 1999, Germany has provided more than 660 million euro for technical and financial cooperation projects. Since April 2024, Germany and Kosovo have a climate and energy partnership, the aim of which is to promote Kosovo’s green transition and to enable Kosovo’s participation in international climate forums.

There has been a Goethe-Zentrum in Pristina since 2018. In addition, the German Embassy in Pristina handles a substantial portion of the cultural work, including scholarship and further-education programmes, concerts and exhibitions. Along with English, German is the most widely spoken foreign language. Indeed, the German language and German culture are popular in Kosovo. A cultural agreement entered into force in 2013, placing cultural exchange on an official footing under international law.

Information about German development cooperation with Kosovo can be found on the website of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.