Belgrade, 08. 02. 2010.

SERBIA

• DJELIC:GOVT IS READY TO FULFILL ALL ASSUMED RESPONSIBILITIES
• IMF MISSION TO EVALUATE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT RESULTS
• DEGERT: KOSOVO SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM
• SERBIAN CULTURE MINISTER VISITS BRUSSELS

• MEMBERS OF NORTH MITROVICA MUNICIPALITY TEAM APPOINTED
• ITALIAN DIPLOMAT: KOSOVO PARTITION IS NOT A SOLUTION

BELGRADE, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - During the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission which will begin on Tuesday, the Serbian government will show that it is ready to fulfill all the obligations assumed on the occasion of the latest talks with that international financial institution, especially when it comes to the issue of pensions, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said on Monday.

In a statement given to news reporters in the Belgrade Hotel Continental, he pointed out that, apart from the pensions, the central issue of the talks with the IMF will be the enforcement of the rationalization measures which the government decided to carry out during the latest visit of the IMF mission. Djelic assessed that the forthcoming talks will be "pretty difficult", but added that, as always, they will be completed in the right way.

BELGRADE, Feb 5 (Tanjug) - IMF Resident Representative in Serbia Bogdan Lissovolik said Friday that it is still to early to say if the Serbian government has been abiding by all of the provisions of its agreement with the IMF, stressing that the evaluation of the programme results will be the key task of the mission which will arrive in Belgrade next week.

Lissovolik told Tanjug that the IMF hopes the third review will be completed successfully. According to Lissovolik, the IMF mission, led by Albert Jaeger, will begin the negotiations on the third review of Serbia's economic performance under the Stand By Arrangement on February 9, adding that it will also conduct a broad annual survey of the Serbian economy - the so called Article IV Consultation.

The IMF and the Serbian government agreed on the EUR 3 billion worth Stand By Arrangement in March 2009, which will last until April 2011, but they also agreed on cutting expenditures on all levels within the country. According to the second review, back in November, the 2010 budget deficit should be at around 4 percent of the GDP, salaries and pensions should be frozen and the government should initiate a pension system reform. Serbia withdrew the second tranche of the IMF credit at the end of 2009, which was around EUR 350 million, bringing up the total amount of funds received under the arrangement to EUR 1.13 billion.

BELGRADE, Feb 7 (Tanjug) - Head of the European Union delegation in Serbia Vincent Degert said that Kosovo should not be a problem in Serbia's EU membership negotiations. It was not an issue either in the process of negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement or in the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement, he said.

In all these cases, EU insisted that the European integration process should be separated from the issue of the final status of Kosovo and such an approach has proved efficient, as Serbia is about to conclude the SAA and the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement has just begun, Degert said in an interview to the Politika daily.

He was answering a question whether Kosovo could be a stumbling bloc in Serbia's forthcoming EU membership negotiations. Kosovo is heading down its own path of European integration, while Serbia is on its own route and has made a lot of progress, he said. Degert said that the European Commission is ready to discuss Serbia's request for EU candidacy, and that it is waiting to receive the go-ahead for doing so from the EU Council of Ministers.

BRUSSELS, Feb 5 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic delivered a donation of several traditional Serbian instruments to the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels on Friday. The ceremony was attended by Belgium's Federal Minister of Culture Sabine Laruelle, Director of the Royal Museums of Art and History Cahen-Delhaye, Serbian Ambassador to Belgium Radomir Diklic and other top officials, reads the statement issued by the Serbian Ministry of Culture.

By donating traditional Serbian instruments, the Ministry of Culture presented a part of Serbian cultural identity and musical heritage. During the Serbian culture minister's official visit, the tourism offerings of Serbia and Belgrade were presented, simultaneously promoting the Serbian cultural heritage. The annual Holiday, Tourism and Leisure Fair is currently underway in Brussels, and the Tourism Organization of Serbia and Tourism Organization of Belgrade are among the exhibitors.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Feb 5 (Tanjug) - International Civilian Representative Peter Feith appointed 14 members of the municipal preparation team that is to help in the establishing of the new municipality of North Mitrovica, the International Civilian Office (ICO) stated on Friday.

The preparation team has a technical mandate that involves the preparation of resources, funds and administrative structures necessary for the future establishing and functioning of the municipality of North Mitrovica, the statement said. The appointed municipal preparation team members will be joined by one representative of the Ministry of Local Self-government Administration, one representative of 'the mother municipality' and one ICO representative.

Feith pointed out that the members of the preparation team will work on the preparation of the new municipality whose top priority will be to serve the citizens, adding that the team's operation would be fully supported by the ICO. This step might be the new beginning for all in the new municipality, while its final goal is to make the municipality of North Mitrovica become a municipality with positive, sustainable future and be safe and prosperous for everyone living in it, Feith said. He believes that the establishing of the new municipality of North Mitrovica, as part of the unique system of the local self-government across Kosovo will approach the municipal authorities to the community, promote economic development, facilitate addressing concrete problems and enable access to greater resources.

Martti Ahtisaari's plan, which was not accepted in the UN Security Council (SC) and dismissed by Belgrade, envisages the establishing of five new municipalities including North Mitrovica. Representatives of all relevant political parties in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica have recently refused the possibility of the formation of North Mitrovica municipality and urged citizens not to take part in the process.

PRISTINA, Feb 5 (Tanjug) - Italian ambassador in Pristina Michael Giffoni has said that partition of Kosovo is not a solution. Such a decision would lead to fresh conflicts in the region that would be difficult to halt, he said. Giffoni was recently appointed to the informal office of Special European Union Envoy for northern Kosovo. No Western government has ever publicly supported the idea of partition of the Republic of Kosovo, he told Osservatorio Balcani.

This idea was only supported by some diplomats, he said. "I firmly believe that partition of Kosovo or an exchange of territories between Kosovo and Serbia must not even be considered. We all agree about the fact that the Western Balkan area must gain stability through the increasing integration of the area into the European Union and that partition is not a solution", he said.

"I don't think that partition is a viable solution for Serbia either. For Serbia, the Kosovo problem cannot be solved by simply annexing a strip of Kosovo's territory", he noted. The main priority for Belgrade should be to guarantee progress and stability for Serbs living in Kosovo, the Italian diplomat said. Giffoni said that the aim of his appointment is to increase EU visibility and credibility in Northern Kosovo and among the local population.