Crucial for the economic future of an independent Kosovo will be the role of its wealthiest citizens, most of whom belong to the ethnic Albanian diaspora. Will they embrace their new country and rush back to invest?

Hetem Ramadani fled Slobodan Milosevic’s secret police in 1991 and was pursued to Slovenia, which was about to fight its own brief war of independence. Now president of Salbatring, an oil products trading company based in Ljubljana, he is reported to be building the country’s largest house and keeps his yacht on the Croatian coast. On Sunday, he celebrated Kosovo’s independence in London, where he is attending International Petroleum Week.