Belgrade, 09. 02. 2010.

SERBIA - SLOVAKIA

• SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER
• DJUKIC: SLOVAKIA SUPPORTS SERBIA'S EU PATH AND KOSOVO ISSUE
• SERBS IN SLOVAKIA ACQUIRE STATUS OF NATIONAL MINORITY

• DACIC: VISIT TO US WAS SUCCESSFUL AND USEFUL
• DINKIC: PROBLEMS ARE DECLINE IN EXPORT AND DOMESTIC DEMAND
• OSCE MISSION HEAD ENCOURAGES NATIONAL MINORITY COMMUNITIES
• BUGARIN: EXHIBITION CHANCE TO ASSESS POSSIBILITIES OF SERBIA
• VIENNA MAYOR HOLDS RECEPTION FOR SERBIAN COMMUNITY

• DJELIC: ISG CONCLUSIONS ARE IRRELEVANT
• AUSTRIA SUPPORTS KOSOVO'S EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE
• ISG SUPPORTS INTERNATIONAL CIVILIAN REPRESENTATIVE
• MINISTER FOR KOSOVO: IMG CONCLUSIONS VOID

ELGRADE, BRATISLAVA, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday that his country will not change its position on Kosovo and Metohija, and that it is in favor of finding a compromise solution for the status of the southern Serbian province through negotiations.

In his talk with Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, who is on a two-day visit to Bratislava, Fico pointed out that it is extremely important that Serbia and Slovakia both continue to support the respect of international law and UN Resolution 1244, reads a statement issued by the Serbian parliament. Regarding NATO accession, the Slovak prime minister said that his country will not interfere with Serbia's decision, because it is an internal issue.

Djukic-Dejanovic said that Serbia will never recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija and thanked Slovakia for its principled and firm position on the issue, and especially for its petition to the International Court of Justice which is supposed to give an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence. Upon her arrival in Slovakia, Djukic-Dejanovic met with Slovak Parliament Speaker Pavel Paska, who said that Bratislava will support the unfreezing of Serbia's Stabilization and Association Agreement as soon as possible.

Serbian parliament speaker is heading a delegation which includes MPs Pavel Marcok from the parliamentary group For a European Serbia and Donka Banovic from the parliamentary group Democratic Party of Serbia - Vojislav Kostunica, it is said in the statement.

BRATISLAVA, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Slovakia offers sincere support to Serbia on its EU integration path and its principled stand in view of unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo, Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, who is on a two-day visit to Bratislava, told Tanjug on Monday.

Djukic-Dejanovic, who conferred with Slovak parliament speaker Pavol Paska upon her arrival at Slovakia, said that this was a discussion between friendly parties, during which it was confirmed that Slovakia would like to ease the current position of Serbia using its experience including the one on the parliamentary level . She pointed out that Slovakia offers sincere support to Serbia on its EU path. "The two countries should establish a more intensive relations between the representatives of the Serb and Slovak citizens, MPs, which will definitely stimulate economic and other political relations that are extremely important in the domain of parliamentary democracy," Djukic-Dejanovic stated.

BELGRADE, Feb 9 (Tanjug) - The Serbs in Slovakia have acquired the status of national minority, by the decision of the Slovak government and at the proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Dusan Caplovic, the Serbian Ministry of the Diaspora stated Tuesday.

By acquiring the status of national minority, the Serbian nationals have acquired the protection through the international law and international agreements on the protection of the rights of national minorities in their activities against discrimination on the grounds of nationality, language, religion, political or other beliefs, social background, etc, Serbian Minister of the Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic stated. Before the Serbian community, the Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Roma and other communities acquired the status of national minority in Slovakia, the statement reads.

BELGRADE, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic assessed that his visit to the US, in the course of which he discussed the joint fight against all forms of crime with US security structures, was successful and useful.

"We came to the shared conclusion that our cooperation to date has been extremely good and that we have several common topics regarding the future fight against organized crime, international terrorism and especially illegal narcotics trade," Dacic said in an interview with Tanjug. He said that the cooperation entails the exchange of experiences, the training of special units for different kinds of financial investigations and the fight against all aspects of international crime. "We agreed on a whole series of joint actions and the cooperation for the coming period," said Dacic, who visited the US last week.

It was also agreed that Attorney General Eric Holder, Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Robert Mueller and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will visit Serbia, Dacic said pointing to the importance of cooperation in these areas. "The visit is another step towards rebuilding our relations following the conflicts of the past decade," Dacic pointed out and reminded that the US has historically been a good political partner for Serbia. The minister, who also attended the Prayer Breakfast, said that, together with the representatives of the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), he used the opportunity to assure US officials that Serbia is honoring the Dayton Agreement and will honor every decision of all three constituent peoples in BiH.

BELGRADE, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic stated Monday that the decline in export and low domestic demand are still present problems in the Serbian economy and that certain steps should be taken to resolve them.

He told the businessmen at the Palace of Serbia that in 2009, export declined by about 20 percent compared to 2008, whereas import reduced by 28 percent compared to the previous year. Only in December 2009 export reduced by about six percent compared to December 2008, Dinkic said. According to him, the consequence of this was Serbia's smaller foreign currency deficit, but the decline is big and it should be annulled in 2010.

"What encouraged us was the fact that the growth in export of semi-finished and primary products was about 9 percent compared to December 2008," Dinkic said. He told the businessmen that a tough year is behind them and that according to the indicators, Serbia will exit the recession already in the first quarter of 2010. He expressed expectation that the economic growth in 2010 will be bigger than 1.5 percent, as predicted by the IMF. The signal that the recovery has already begun are the budget revenues which are by 6 percent higher than in January 2009, Dinkic underscored.

BELGRADE, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Dimitrios Kypreos, urged Monday Serbia's national minority communities to register for and vote in the elections to National Minority Councils in order to help ensure broad representation and the legitimacy of the Councils.

Broad representation is crucial and I therefore strongly encourage national minorities to actively participate in the registration and voting process, Kypreos said. A high turnout will enable the Councils to properly serve the cultural, linguistic and educational needs of each community in accordance with the European standards, he added. Kypreos called on the local Albanian community, which it to elect its Council for the first time, to register in sufficient numbers for direct elections of the Council. He pointed out that elegible voters must register by March 9 to participate in the direct elections for the newly formed Councils.

Kypreos commended the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights for organizing the elections, saying that they contributed to efforts to create a legal and institutional framework for realizing minority self-governance rights in the areas of culture, education, information and official use of minority languages, the statement reads.

MOSCOW, Feb 9 (Tanjug) - President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Milos Bugarin said on Tuesday that PRODEXPO-2010 exhibition in Moscow is a chance to assess the possibilities of Serbia in the field of agriculture and food industry and the need for such goods on the Russian market, and also a chance to make new useful contacts with potential partners.

On the occasion of the opening of the 17th International Exhibition of Foodstuffs and Food Raw Materials PRODEXPO-2010, in which more than 2,200 companies from 60 countries will participate until February 12, Bugarin said that this is the biggest fair manifestation in Russia and Eastern Europe, with a long tradition, and great competition. Bugarin told Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that around twenty Serbian companies from the agriculture and food sector, which participate in the manifestation, have a mission to assess their potentials and compare them to the possibilities of food manufacturers from the world. Bugarin announced that in the forthcoming talks with the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Yevgeniy Primakov they will discuss the possibilities of a better placement of Serbia's goods on the Russian market.

VIENNA, Feb 9 (Tanjug) - Mayor of Vienna Michael Haupl held a reception for the Serbian community late on Monday, and thanked the Serbs living and working in Vienna for their contribution to the city's development. In his address to the guests, Haupl underscored that without immigrants from Serbia Vienna would have not become what it is now, which is one of the world cities with the best quality of life.

According to the mayor, Serbs have contributed, with their work, to the development of the city into a metropolis that keeps growing. Mayor Haupl underscored that Vienna is not urging for an assimilation of the Serbs and other communities but for their integration, adding that foreign groupings should not forget their roots and culture and that the city authorities would help them in the process.

BELGRADE, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic stated Monday that Serbia does not recognize the International Steering Group (ISG) for Kosovo since it is illegal being created on the basis of Martti Ahtisaari's plan, which was not accepted both by Serbia and UN Security Council (SC).

"Any conclusion of the ISG is irrelevant," Djelic pointed out in Belgrade at an international conference at which the cooperation between Serbia and EU was discussed. The ISG opened Monday a meeting in Vienna that will discuss the mandate of Chief of the International Civilian Office (ICO) in Kosovo Peter Feith, Tanjug was told in the capital of Austria. The political heads of the foreign ministries of 25 ISG member states will confer behind closed doors on the extension of the mandate of ICO Chief Peter Feith that is based on Martti Ahtisaari's plan. The participants of the ISG meeting in Vienna will confer on a strategy for the establishing of greater rights of Kosovo institutions in the North of Kosovo.

VIENNA, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - Kosovo constitutes a test for Europe's efforts to stabilize the Western Balkans, to promote the economy and integrate the region in the long term in the European Union, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said meeting the visiting Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci in Vienna. "Austria is fully behind the European perspective of Kosovo.

We were one of the companions of Kosovo's independence and now also offer a platform for international engagement in this country," he said. The minister commended the successful holding of the first elections after independence was declared one year ago, and added that the fact that the Serb community exercised their right to vote, was a positive sign for the development of a multiethnic Kosovo. Pristina must, however, actively pursue its efforts regarding the Serb people", Spindelegger underlined.

Local elections in Kosovo were held last November. The turnout of Serbs in three central municipalities was quite high, while Serbs in the north boycotted the polls. Spindelegger will visit Serbia on Wednesday.

VIENNA, Feb 8 (Tanjug) - At a meeting held in Vienna on Monday, The International Steering Group (ISG) for Kosovo concluded that Pristina needs to make immediate progress in the fight against corruption, organized crime, improving administrative capacities and establishing the rule of law, and that this should extend to the territory of northern Kosovo as well.

Significant progress in the matters of self-government will be crucial to ensure that the next European Commission report sends a positive signal on Kosovo's progress towards the European future that its citizens expect, reads the ISG statement which calls for close cooperation between the Kosovo government and Eulex. According to the statement, the integration of all communities, especially the entire community of Kosovo Serbs, into Kosovo society, will remain the key challenge in the effort to ensure a sustainable future and strengthen democracy in Kosovo.

Considering the recommendations of the International Civilian Office, ISG fully supports the necessity of intensifying efforts for northern Kosovo and its continued development in consultations with the relevant factors, reads the statement which calls on all parties, including the Republic of Serbia, to play a constructive role in this important process in order to create better living conditions in northern Kosovo. According to the statement, ISG also welcomes the Kosovo government's intention to finance projects with the goal of integrating Kosovo Serbs, as well as the EU efforts in northern Kosovo.

BELGRADE, Feb 9 (Tanjug) - Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic stated on m that the conclusions of the International Management Group for Kosovo (IMG) are not binding and that they are void, underscoring that Serbia does not recognize the group. In his statement with Tanjug, Bogdanovic said that the International Civil Office (ICO) in Kosovo Head Peter Feith had been trying from the very beginning to implement Ahtisaari's plan, which Serbia had rejected and which the United Nations had failed to accept.

At a meeting held in Vienna on Monday, the IMG expressed their full support to the ICO and its representative Peter Feith. Minister Bogdanovic evaluated that Feith's double function, the ICO head and representative of the European Union in Kosovo and Metohija, is the main obstacle for the cooperation in the field. Bogdanovic pointed out that Feith "intentionally and abundantly abusing his double role, referring to either depending on which one suits him better, adding that only confusion, misunderstanding and tension result from such Feith's approach and work.

According to Bogdanovic, Feith's work may best be described by the fact that he had continuously been trying to create a conflict among the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija to the benefit of Pristina. Minister Bogdanovic said that the plan for integration of northern Kosovo is the latest in the series of ill-considered steps made by Feith, evaluating that the plan is directed at changing the reality in the field, creating tension, confusion and it poses a threat to stability in the region.

The minister also said that Feith and those who support his plan have to aware of the fact that they will not find anyone among the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija who will help them realize this dangerous plan, and that they will suffer consequences that would derive from an attempt to implement the plan. "The implementation of Ahtisaari is not and never will be acceptable to Belgrade," concluded Bogdanovic.