Belgrade, 11. 02. 2010.

BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger has stated that his country supports the states of the Western Balkans to get included in the "European agenda", underscoring that he hopes that the EU will start talks with Serbia on ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) as soon as possible.

I hope that we will be able to start the ratification process of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Serbia soon this year and that in 2014 we will start negotiations on its membership in the EU, Spindelegger said in an interview published by Blic. He said that his visit to Belgrade on Wednesday was aimed at passing Austria's support to Serbia's European integrations on directly, at the moment when the European Union member states are unanimous about the Union's enlargement, particularly about the pace with which the Western Balkan countries should join it.

The aim is to have all Western Balkan countries become members of the European Union by the year 2020, said Minister Spindelegger, adding that his country is investing efforts in showing other EU countries that it will back the Western Balkan countries to get included in the European agenda.

VIENNA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - States of the Western Balkans have to seize the current developments to get accepted in the European Union, because there are voices within the EU that believe that a pause should be made after Croatia's accession, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said in a statement published by the Frankfurt-based Vesti today.

He also said that the key moment to sum up the achieved results is the year 2014, which symbolically coincides with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. According to him, until then Serbia is expected to make progress in reforms, particularly to develop good neighborly relations. "The year 2014 is more of a symbol, to have strong relations among all Western European countries on the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WW I and to join the EU.

This is not the date for expected membership in the EU. The more realistic date is 2020," said Spindelegger. Spindelegger also said that he openly discussed the Kosovo with his Serbian counterpart, but that, in the end, no one expects Serbia to recognize Kosovo this year. "Every state has its own goals, but when it comes to Serbia, I expect that the SAA in effect and talks on accession in the EU will be its goals. It would not be realistic to expect it to become a member. A lot has to be done - to carry out reforms and look towards the neighborhood. Good neighborly relations are one of the conditions to move forwards," concluded Spindelegger.

VIENNA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - The European Union should have a comprehensive strategy for the Western Balkan countries' movement closer to the Union, participants of a debate on the Western Balkans evaluated in Vienna late on Wednesday.

The Western Balkans has to realize that a solution to the current problems is the key to the accession in the EU, State Secretary in the Austrian Finance Ministry Andreas Schieder said. In many areas of the foreign policy on the Balkans, great attention was being paid to the importance of the former Yugoslav republics gaining independence as a solution to all problems, said Schieder, adding that it would be more useful to look at the Western Balkans as a single region.

Criticizing indirectly Austria's previous cabinet, Schieder believes that the problem is that only a part of the EU had recognized Kosovo, because it is unclear now what will happen with Kosovo and which organization it may join. We should have first understand all of the problems, such as unemployment and bad infrastructure, in the region, solve them and them think about independence, underscored Schieder.

BELGRADE, Feb 10 (Tanjug) - A new building of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade will be a symbol of the USA's commitment to a long-standing and active partnership with Serbia, as well as of its orientation towards the finding of a permanent solution for the mutual challenges of the USA and Serbia, U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade Mary Warlick stated on Wednesday.

On the occasion of the setting of a foundation stone for the new embassy in Belgrade, in Dedinje, she pointed out that the strong diplomatic relations between America and Serbia are the result of several decades-long nurturing of personal relations of the two people. Whether we talk of students from Serbia who studied music and art at the prestigious American universities, of Americans who study rich history of film in Belgrade, or of young sportsmen who play American football in Kragujevac, our bonds of friendship have actually been built by individuals from both countries who exchanged their ideas and talents, Warlick pointed out.

She underlined that the complex of the new embassy, whose construction is about to start, is a symbol which shows that the bilateral relations between Serbia and the USA are becoming more important every day. According to her, the U.S. Embassy will represent the most modern and technologically best equipped building in the region. A total of 500 workers from Serbia will be engaged in the construction of the embassy, Warlick added, and the building itself and the area around it will be made in accordance with the standards of environmental protection and energy saving. Serbian Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic evaluated as very important the decision of the U.S. Embassy to invest money in the construction of such a building, which, as he put it, will be built with domestic materials, and where experts and engineers will obtain great knowledge and experience.

Dulic reminded that the relations between Serbia and the USA have gone through various phases, but that it is necessary to work on a new kind of partnership, as well as on connecting people. "There are feelings which are still fresh, but we have to change them in some way. We should turn to all of that which should represent a precondition for the new future," Dulic stressed.

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas pointed out that Serbia and the USA are working together on many issues, especially in the field of security, and expressed his belief that in the next period the cooperation in other fields will be improved.Djilas also expressed his hope that, when the new embassy is opened, in 2012, the citizens of Serbia will not need visas for traveling to America any more.

NIKOSIA, Feb 10 (Tanjug) - Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said on Wednesday, following his visit to Cyprus, that the country's officials support Serbia's European integration and its position on Kosovo and Metohija. "Convinced that Cyprus is one of the countries perhaps best suited to understand Serbia's position, we expressed our satisfaction with Cyprus's significant support to Serbia's efforts for visa liberalization," he said. In a statement over the phone, the minister told Tanjug that Cyprus supported the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement between Serbia and the EU.

He also said that "Cyprus has a very clear position on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija", pointing out that both sides agreed that the position is not based only on the friendly relations between Cyprus and Serbia. The position is also based on "the principled stand which Cyprus believes protects international law and legal order, at the same time protecting the modern world which is founded on that very law," the minister said.

Sutanovac also met with President of Cyprus Dimitris Christofias, Parliament Speaker Marios Garoyian, Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou and Interior Minister Neoklis Silikiotis. With his Cypriot counterpart, Costas Papacostas, Sutanovac will sign an agreement on defense cooperation. Sutanovac expressed satisfaction with the signing of the agreement on defense cooperation, "which envisages a higher level of cooperation between the two militaries."

BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Russian Ambassador in Belgrade Alexander Konuzin has stated that the project for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline is still in the preparation phase, aiming at strengthening its capacity.

"Parallel work is being done on a feasibility study. That is why I cannot say now where the pipeline will enter Serbia - near Zajecar or Nis, because the project is being done by experts," Konuzin said in a statement published by magazine Ekonomist. He recalled that an agreement on joining the project had recently been signed with Hungary and that contact had been made also with the French and Croats.

In reference to Russia's loan to Serbia worth one billion U.S. dollars, Konuzin recalled that an agreement had already been made in principle for an amount of USD 200 million and that the loan will be used to stabilize the country's budget. According to Konuzin, several projects for bilateral cooperation between Serbia's and Russia's railway companies had been defined, but projects for which the loan funds will be used are yet to be specified.

BELGRADE, Feb 10 (Tanjug) - The Association of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Serbia sent an open letter to the EU and UN on Wednesday requesting that the issues of several hundred thousand of these people, who live stripped of their rights and in poverty, be resolved according to international standards and "human and moral principles."

"You cannot allow certain Balkan countries to join the EU when they have not ensured a dignified return of their citizens from exile and given them back their property and rights even after 20 years, because such countries would become a disturbance in the union of Europe's democratic countries," says the letter. Croatia is a typical example, according to the letter, with more than 150,000 people who have not returned yet and who have not got their property or their rights back, but are instead refugees in Serbia.

The letter was addressed to top officials of the EU and Spain, the country presiding over the EU, UN representatives and the UNHCR office in Belgrade. The content of the letter was presented at a press conference at the association's headquarters, and it also contains an appeal for UN and EU officials to join the preparations for a regional conference that should be held in Belgrade during the first half of 2010.

BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Serbian State Secretary with the Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said Thursday that early local elections might be held in Kosovska Mitrovica already at the end of April, or the beginning of May, which would make completely insubstantial the plan of Chief of International Civilian Office (ICO) Peter Feith for integration of northern Kosovo.

"Feith's plan for integration of the north of Kosovo into the interim Kosovo institutions has no chance to succeed, but it could provoke tensions and unnecessary conflicts in the north, which is why Serbia insists on the soonest possible elections in Mitrovica," Ivanovic told Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS). Asked to comment about the support which the International Steering Group for Kosovo (ISG) is giving to Feith's plan and the fact that the ICO chief will forward the plan to the state authorities in Belgrade via mediators, Ivanovic said that the procedure itself will not change Serbia's official stand. Serbia clearly pointed out that, regardless of the official's importance and his role, the plan does not exist as far as Serbia is concerned, that the country views it as null and void, and that it means nothing to it. Serbia has made it clear that it will be impossible to apply the plan, since the functional local self-government and its credible officials, especially in Mitrovica, have absolutely ruled out the possibility of any such plans.

Speaking of the statement of interim Kosovo parliament speaker Jakup Krasnici on the alleged readiness of ethnic Kosovo Albanians in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo to integrate into Kosovo, Ivanovic said he expects that first UNMIK, and then the representatives of the EU, EULEX, and NATO, will react to the statement.

BELGRADE, Feb 10 (Tanjug) - State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Oliver Ivanovic urged Wednesday the international community to react to a statement by Kosovo parliament Speaker Jakup Krasnici on alleged readiness of ethnic Albanians in the Bujanovac and Presevo municipalities in southern Serbia to unite with Kosovo.

Krasnici stated earlier Wednesday that in case Serbs in the North of Kosovo think that they can secede, they should be aware that the ethnic Albanians in Presevo and Bujanovac are ready to join Kosovo.