DJUKIC-DEJANOVIC MEETS WITH TUNISIAN AMBASSADOR

BELGRADE, Feb 2 (Tanjug) - Parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic received Ambassador of Tunisia Houria Ferchichi at the National Assembly House. The two officials agreed that the overall bilateral cooperation between Serbia and Tunisia leaves significant room for improvement, especially at the level of diplomacy and economy, the parliament's press service released. They pointed out that a meeting between the speakers of Serbian and Tunisian Parliaments this year, and the resulting increase in parliamentary cooperation, would represent an important step towards the enhancement of the countries' bilateral relations. Ambassador Ferchichi proposed to Djukic-Dejanovic that the National Assembly might host a round table meeting on the improvement of the position of women, in a joint organization of the Tunisian Embassy in Serbia and the Serbian Parliament.Dejanovic welcomed the initiative and said she will take active part in any public discussion on the topic, the statement reads.

BELGRADE, Feb 3 (Tanjug) - Minister of Labor Rasim Ljajic urged for a government to be reshuffled, which would include a reduced number of ministries. "I do believe that this government needs a strong political move, which implies elections or a government reshuffle," said Ljajic, adding that this would mean a reduction of the number of ministries and a number of new people. In a live broadcast by TV B92, Ljajic clarified that holding an election at the moment would be "a luxury" because this year would practically be lost in a campaign and forming of a new government, while a new government would not last a year.

BELGRADE, Feb 3 (Tanjug) - Minister of Labor Ljajic assessed that Sandzak and Serbia are not in danger of the spread of the Wahhabi movement. Commenting on the arrest of a Wahhabi member in BiH, Ljajic told the TV B92 that the there are notably fewer Wahhabis in Sandzak compared to several years earlier when one of the groups in the region was arrested. He said that the Wahhabis appeared after the war in BiH and that Vienna was their operative center for the former Yugoslavia. According to Ljajic, there were several enclaves in BiH where the Wahhabis lived and imposed their lifestyle, and now, as he pointed out, they endangered the country, so their arrest was a logical consequence. Ljajic said that they endangered the constitutional order of BiH by not recognizing the Constitution and the laws of this country and by applying only the Sheriat law as a fundamental lifestyle.

BELGRADE, Feb 2 (Tanjug) - The Serbian Medical Chamber (LKS) launched a protest against a request by the leaders of the unilaterally declared indepentent Kosovo to join the World Health Organization (WHO). The LKS called on "all relevant institutions in Serbia and the world to support Serbia and its institutions as the only state-level authority in Kosovo," says an announcement by the Chamber. The LKS stated that it will also lodge a protest with the WHO through its international contacts. "The LKS, like all government institutions, supports in full the official view of the Serbian government that the representatives of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo have no place in any international institutions, because Serbia provides proper representation for all of its citizens and institutions, including Kosovo and Metohija," says the announcement.

ZAGREB, Feb 2 (Tanjug) - The Zagreb-based daily Jutarnji list reports that former Serbian ambassador to Croatia Radivoj Cveticanin did not receive a medal from Croatian outgoing President Stjepan Mesic, as was the tradition, due to the deterioration of relations with Serbia. The daily says that several days ago, Cveticanin, who ended his mandate at the end of 2009 and returned to Serbia, was allegedly told that, due to the deterioration of relations with Serbia and recent statements of Serbian President Boris Tadic, it would not be convenient for him to be granted a medal like his predecessors were. Mesic's advisor Tomislav Jakic, however, stated for the daily that the reason why Cveticanin was not on the list of awarded people is the procedure which requires that the awarded ambassador must have the agreement of his country. Since the agreement was not issued on time, the medal was not awarded to him, Jakic said, adding, however, that the agreement was issued in the meantime and that former Serbian ambassador to Croatia will receive the medal. Mesic awarded medals to President of HCHR in Serbia Sonja Biserko, Director of Jerusalem Center Simon Vizental Efraim Zurof and Head of the OSCE Office in Zagreb Jorge Fuentes.

BELGRADE, Feb 3 (Tanjug) - Ministry of Diaspora wants to open a public debate on the possibility that Serbian Diaspora has its representatives in the parliament, Minister of Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic told. "Our idea is to analyze the possibility that representatives of diaspora have, for example, five MPs in the National Assembly, which would symbolically prove the unity of the country of Serbia and its citizens who live abroad, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliation, and all the other Serbs living in the region," he said. There is no wish or intention that diaspora influences the possible reshuffling of political scene, he said, pointing out that diaspora's active participation in the parliament would be a clear sign that Serbia continues with a much more active and responsible long-term policy concerning its diaspora, given the fact that almost 4 million of Serbia's people live in other parts of the world.