Belgrade, 05. 01. 2010.

AMBASSADORS' CONFERENCE IN BELGRADE

• JEREMIC: SERBIA'S 2010 GOALS - JOINING EU, DEFENDING KOSOVO
• PAPANDREOU: 2014 IS TARGET YEAR FOR BALKANS' EU ACCESSION
• TADIC: SERBIA AND GREECE ARE HISTORIC FRIENDS
• PAPANDREOU: GREECE IS SERBIA'S ALLY ON EU PATH
• TADIC: SERBIAN FOREIGN POLICY HAS FOUR PRIORITIES

• DJELIC: EU MEMBERSHIP CANDIDATE STATUS BY END OF YEAR
• ESPANA: SERBIA'S CADIDACY BID SHOULD BE APPROVED SOON
• GALLACH: EU COUNCIL TO DEBATE SERBIA'S CANDIDACY BID SOON

• SERBIA SUES CROATIA FOR GENOCIDE BEFORE ICJ
• OBRADOVIC: HISTORICAL CONTEXT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR NINETIES EVENTS
• MONOGRAPH ENTITLED WORLD HERITAGE - SERBIA PRESENTED

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said opening the two-day conference of ambassadors which started in Belgrade on Monday that Serbia's foreign policy priorities remain unchanged.

The central strategic priority of the Serbian government will still be the accession to the European Union and continuing to fight for the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty in Kosovo-Metohija, he said. 2009 was a year of challenges, and the main tasks of Serbian diplomats will be to keep the successful achievements and make them even greater in 2010, he said. Besides EU membership and defense of sovereignty in Kosovo-Metohija, Jeremic also pointed to the importance of fostering good-neighborly cooperation in the Western Balkans region.

Another priority is fostering economic diplomacy at the time of global recession, he said. Serbia's foreign policy rests on four pillars - Brussels, Moscow, Beijing and Washington, he said. The first pillar is Brussels, as Serbia wants accession to the European Union as soon as possible, he said. The second pillar is Moscow, as Serbia shares a historic partnership with Russia, he said. Russia is also Serbia's ally in the peaceful defense of its territorial integrity, he said.

The third pillar is Beijing, as Serbia has established strategic partnership with China, he said. Last, but not least, is Washington, as the US is a key player in the world and Western Balkans, he said. Referring to the 2014 agenda, Jeremic expressed his conviction that promises made in Salonika can be fulfilled in Athens in 2014.

This is an ambitious goal, but Serbia is certain that it can be realized, he said referring to Greece's idea that Serbia should join the EU in 2014. Serbia is determined to complete its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as its legal and ethical commitment to itself, its neighbors and the world, he said.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou said in Belgrade on Monday that 2014 is the target year for the EU accession of Western Balkans countries. Papandreou, who took part in the ambassadors' conference in Belgrade, said that the Western Balkans region needs to make big strides forward and shake off the remnants of past wars and conflicts.

Greece is the driving force behind agenda 2014, an initiative to make all Western Balkans countries EU members by 2014 - an attainable goal according to the Greek prime minister. He added that completing the road towards the EU will require the countries that wish to join the European family to peacefully resolve all conflicts, respect human and minority rights and fight illegal migration, organized crime and corruption.

Commenting on Kosovo, Papandreou pointed that it is a complex issue and that Greece is in favor of a resolution based on the UN Charter and respect of international law. Papandreou said that Greece supports Serbia's decision to turn to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Speaking of stability in the Balkans, Papandreou noted that for Bosnia-Herzegovina the country's European outlook is crucial in achieving unity.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - Serbia and Greece are historic friends and partners in the present and will certainly be strategic partners in the future, Serbian president Boris Tadic noted Monday evening after his meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Belgrade.

"George Papandreou has once again given us his support on our road of European integration. This is the man who launched Agenda 2014, when all of southeastern Europe should become part of the EU, a hundred years after the start of World War One," said Tadic. The Serbian president said that the talks with the guest from Athens included discussion of bilateral relations and the economic difficulties the two countries are facing after the world economic crisis. There was also talk of a joint fight against corruption and organized crime, and the EU future of southeastern Europe in general, Tadic stressed.

"There are hardly any issues on which we have a different stance. There are hardly any problems our countries and Europe are facing on which we have different positions. I can say that our partnership has a significant strategic dimension," the Serbian president concluded after the meeting with the Greek prime minister, who was a guest at the ambassadors' conference in Belgrade.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - Greece will be Serbia's close ally along its EU path given that the country has proved its political will to move forward by submission of EU candidacy bid and joining the Schengen White List, Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou stated in Belgrade on Monday.

After a meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Papandreou congratulated Serbia on filing EU candidacy application and the visa liberalization, adding that those steps represent a proof of progress, efforts that have been made, courage of the government and the Serbian people and political will to go forward, that Greece has always supported. Papandreou recalled that Greece has initiated the EU accession of the West Balkan countries in 2014 and added that this could be the goal that would mobilize both EU and the West Balkan countries.

BELGRADE, Jan 5 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic said Tuesday that the priorities of Serbia's foreign policy in 2010 will be to approach to the European Union, preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, strengthen regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, and boost economic diplomacy.

At a press conference in the Palace of Serbia, Tadic evaluated that the success of Serbia's external policy is an articulation of relations with the biggest world powers: Russia, the USA and China. Concluding that the contemporary international relations are changeable, he pointed out that it is necessary that the country's external policy be flexible.

According to him, Serbia will have to cooperate more intensively with "political entities" for which it did not have enough time in the past, and relations should be especially improved with the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and with the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Speaking of the relations with the countries of the "Old Continent", the president reminded that Serbia has established close relations with Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.

The guest of honor at the conference which was attended by Serbian ambassadors is Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic expressed Monday his conviction that Serbia will receive the status of EU membership candidate by the end of that year. Negotiations on accession will start immediately afterwards, he told the two-day conference of ambassadors which started in Belgrade on Monday.

Djelic expressed hope that the European Union Council of Ministers will next spring give the green light to the European Commission to consider Serbia's application for candidate status. In the administrative sense, Serbia is capable to get the candidate status by the end of 2010, it only uncertain when it will be placed on the European Union Council of Ministers agenda, he said. Serbia is waiting to receive the EU questionnaire which will contain between 2,000 and 4,000 questions, and the ministries are already preparing answers, he said.

2009 was the best year in history as regards EU integration, and Serbia will have to confirm its success by becoming a membership candidate in 2010, he said. In the process of getting the status of EU membership candidate, Serbia will have to prove that visa liberalization will not endanger the stability and security of EU member-states, Djelic said. Serbia expects visa liberalization for its citizens from Great Britain and Ireland in 2011, and from Japan before that, Djelic added.

As regards visa liberalization for travel to the US, Djelic said that security challenges do not provide much scope for optimism. The announced lower cost of visas for the US is a positive move, he said. Serbia is getting from the EU considerable financial assistance which currently amounts to EUR 200 million, Djelic added. As a full EU member, Serbia will be able to count on financial support of EUR two or three billion a year, he said.

BERLIN, Jan 5 (Tanjug) - Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana said that Spain, which overtook the rotating EU presidency on January 1, holds that Serbia's EU candidacy bid should be debated as soon as possible.

We hope that, together with other EU member states, we can give a positive rating to Serbia's application and thus ensure the European Commission gives its opinion as soon as possible, the Spanish ambassador said in an interview for Belgrade daily Danas. He said that in order for this to happen, consent of all member states is needed, adding that it is hard to predict at this early stage when the European Council will offer its opinion on Serbia's EU application.

BERLIN, Jan 5 (Tanjug) - It is still not known when the EU Council of Ministers will consider Serbia's EU application, but it will certainly be soon, because this is a priority issue for Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said on Tuesday spokesperson for the Spanish Presidency Cristina Gallach.

We do not know the date yet (when the application will be considered). What I can tell you is that Serbia's application will be discussed as early as this Thursday, at a meeting of ambassadors of EU member states, Gallach told Tanjug. This is a priority issue for Spain and it will no doubt be on the agenda soon, she said.

On December 22, 2009, Serbian President Boris Tadic submitted the candidacy application for full-fledged EU membership to Swedish Prime Minister Frederick Reinfeldt, whose country was presiding over the EU at the time. The next step will come from the EU Foreign Ministers Council, and if consensus is reached, the body will turn over the bid to the European Commission and request an official opinion.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - The representatives of Serbia's legal team filed on Monday the response to the lawsuit and a countersuit against Croatia for genocide perpetrated against Serbs in Croatia during the conflicts that lasted from 1991 to 1995, to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Serbian Foreign Ministry confirmed for Tanjug.

The Serbian government made the decision to file the suit on December 31, 2009, after President Boris Tadic consulted with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. Serbia decided to take this step because the Republic of Croatia initiated proceedings before ICJ against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on July 2, 1999, for alleged violation of the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide during the armed conflicts on Croatian territory from 1991 to 1995.

BELGRADE, Jan 5 (Tanjug) - Serbia's legal representative before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Sasa Obradovic stated Monday evening that Serbia's countersuit against Croatia had to be based on the same factual and legal basis at which the basic charges (Croatia against Serbia) were raised that is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

"The only way to take part in the process is to file a countersuit for genocide against Croatia and base the charges on the incidents from the last war for which Serbia was also charged with genocide," Obradovic said for the Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS). Obradovic underscored that the historical context is extremely important for the understanding of the incidents between 1991 and 1995.

According to him, in the international criminal law, the historical context is very important for the court to determine which events really took place. "The course of events in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from 1941 to 1945 is extremely important for the case since without those facts it is virtually impossible that any judge could understand what happened from 1991 to 1995. Namely, the period was mentioned in Croatia's lawsuit and it is our responsibility to offer a counterargument," Obradovic said.

BELGRADE, Jan 4 (Tanjug) - The monograph entitled World Heritage - Serbia was presented Monday at the atrium of the Serbian National Museum, in the presence of a large number of public and cultural figures and church officials.

The monograph presents Serbia's cultural monuments which are on UNESCO's list of world cultural heritage. Serbian Culture Minister Nebojsa Bradic pointed to a great potential of the country's cultural heritage which ought to contribute to the promotion of Serbia's culture and art of identity in general and to help change the image of Serbia. Bradic announced the book's promotion in the region, to be followed by promotions at international forums and organisations. There should also be a sequence in the form of a web presentation, with videos and interactive contents.

The bilingual monography (Serbian-English) presents the Studenica Monastery, Stari Ras with Sopocani Monastery, which includes the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Stari Ras and Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery near Novi Pazar, as well as monuments in Kosovo-Metohija registered under the joint title of Medieval Monuments in Kosovo - Monasteries of Decani, Pecka patrijarsija and Gracanica, the Church of Holy Virgin of Ljevisa in Prizren and Gamzigrad-Romuliana.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that culture is nowadays one of the most powerful weapons of foreign policy. "The perception of one's own heritage is certainly a foundation for understanding one's own cultural and national identity, and the issue of identity is one of the most significant ones nowadays," Jeremic said, pointing out that the preservation and restoration of sacred monuments in Kosovo-Metohija is one of the crucial tasks of the Serbian government.