 In September 2008, Kosovo's foreign minister, Skënder Hyseni, met with Rais and asked him "to recognise Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state as soon as possible".Rais provided Hyseni with a promise that Malaysia "would recognise Kosovo very soon, and would work on establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries".The Albanian Foreign Minister Edit Harxhi also made a similar request to Malaysia to recognise the newly formed country.