Belgrade, 11. 03. 2010.

SERBIA - EU

ASHTON: PROGRESS OF BALKANS IN EU PATHWAY
STRASBOURG, March 10 (Tanjug) - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton stated before the European Parliament (EP) Wednesday that during her recent visit to the Western Balkans, she reached a conclusion that the entire region is making progress in European integration and pointed out that this is the place where the European foreign policy must not result in failure. The conclusion that I reached is that the region is making progress, even if the progress is unequal and incomplete, Ashton said.
The European perspective remains the main comprehensive framework, as well as our goal and the main motivator for reforms, she added, presenting the European foreign policy before the EP. She pointed out that the progress towards the EU membership depends on the commitment to domestic reforms, honoring of human rights, rule of law and regional cooperation. We support our strategy with all available means, Ashton said.
In Kosovo, we have the biggest civilian mission. In Bosnia-Herzegovina we have adjusted the work of the ALTHEA mission to the stabilized situation and we are developing the training program. We also try to enable that the European message be heard in the campaign before the October elections. We have achieved progress in visa liberalization and in contact between people, she stressed.
She added that the EU's strategy for the Balkans is precisely what it should be - strategic in its goals, versatile in the use of resources and customized when it comes to its implementation, Ashton underscored. Ashton stressed that the Balkans are precisely the place where the European foreign policy was born, and that for this very reason, here more than anywhere else, failure is inadmissible.

KACIN URGES ASHTON TO HELP PRO-EUROPEAN PARTIES IN WBALKANS
STRASBOURG, March 10 (Tanjug) - European Parliament (EP) member Jelko Kacin urged Wednesday the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton to help and encourage pro-European parties in Western Balkans.
At the end of the EP debate on EU foreign and security policy, Kacin urged Ashton to help and encourage pro-European parties in the region and to act in good time and preventively, Kacin's office said.
Kacin took the opportunity to remember the anniversary of the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on March 12, 2003, saying Djindjic was killed in order to halt the process of normalization, democratization and implementation of European values in Serbia. Serbia was not stopped but was slowed down by that tragic event, which had a negative influence on neighboring countries and whole region, Kacin said.

LIHT: NO CONDITIONING FOR SERBIA'S EU ACCESSION
BELGRADE, March 11 (Tanjug) - Head of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence Sonja Liht has evaluated that the statement of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that the recognition of Kosovo is not a condition for Serbia's EU accession but rather a necessity, is nothing new and does not imply any conditioning.
"The necessity (of Kosovo recognition) is mentioned in relation to regional cooperation and good-neighborly relations, since the EU counts on the whole Western Balkans, which includes Kosovo as well," stated Liht, who is also the president of the Serbian Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Council. It has been pointed out on several occasions that Serbia's EU admission will not be conditional upon the country's recognition of Kosovo independence, since the issue is in the jurisdiction of individual states, and not of the administration in Brussels, Liht said for the latest edition of the Belgrade weekly NIN.
She underlined that the process of EU integration cannot be separated from regional cooperation, and added that a way has to be found for starting a dialogue, not on (Kosovo) status but rather on functional issues, since some kind of institutional cooperation will have to be established between Belgrade and Pristina.

DACIC: VISA LIBERALISATION IS NOT JEOPARDIZED
BELGRADE, March 11 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic stated before the parliament Thursday that the requests for asylum and the consequential readmission will not jeopardize the visa liberalisation, adding that Serbia will be cooperative in solving the status of persons who are illegally residing in the EU countries.
Dacic called on the Serbian citizens to realise that the visa liberalisation does not mean the right to getting asylum and obtaining working permits, and warned that all the people who are illegally residing in the EU countries will be returned to Serbia based on the readmission agreement which took effect two years ago. Dacic specified that there are about 400 Serbian and Macedonian citizens in Belgium and 500 of them in Sweden, mainly of Albanian and Roma nationality, who sought asylum in these two countries. He said that the buses carrying asylum seekers departed from Macedonia and picked up people from southern Serbia on the way.

GROUP OF ASYLUM SEEKERS LEAVE BRUSSELS FOR SERBIA, MACEDONIA
BELGRADE, March 10 (Tanjug) - A group of Serbian and Macedonian citizens who were not granted asylum in Belgium left Brussels for southern Serbia and Macedonia on Wednesday morning, Belgian Ambassador to Serbia Denise de Hauwere told Tanjug.
She said that 44 ethnic Albanians from Serbia and 28 from Macedonia boarded buses to carry them home. They are only some of the nearly 500 Serbian citizens who have requested asylum in Belgium since the beginning of this year and who have agreed to return, she said. The number of Serbian citizens who requested asylum in Belgium reached 330 in February 2010 only, de Hauwere noted.
Belgian State Secretary for Immigration and Asylum Melchior Wathelet recently visited southern Serbia and informed ethnic Albanian representatives from Bujanovac and Presevo municipalities that none of the asylum seekers, most of whom are from that region, will be granted asylum for economic reasons only.

EGERESI: DANUBE REGION KEY EU DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
NOVI SAD, PANCEVO, March 10 (Tanjug) - Vojvodina Assembly President Sandor Egeresi has said that the constitution of the Danube Region is a key European Union development project for the 21st century. It also marks the start of a new European partnership, he said.
Presenting the EU strategy for the Danube Region at a conference in Pancevo, Egeresi pointed to the strategic importance of the Danube for the development policy of the region and the cities through which the river passes and to the importance of their participation in defining a joint strategy for the Danube basin in Serbia. Egeresi is deputy president of the Council of the Danube Basin Cities and Regions, which comprises representatives of 32 regions and cities of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. The council has been entrusted with supporting the EU strategy for the Danube Region, he said.
Vojvodina Deputy Premier Istvan Pastor said that Serbia and its Vojvodina province must take the advantage of this development chance provided by the fact that they are surrounded by EU member-states, in which large investments are expected, especially in under-developed states such as Romania and Bulgaria.

SERBIA

SERBIAN COMPANIES OFFERED FREE BUILDING PLOTS IN KALUGA
KALUGA, March 10 (Tanjug) - Serbia's Trade Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic told Tanjug on Wednesday that Serbian companies have been offered free plots with full infrastructure to build factories in the Russian Province of Kaluga, as well as the possibility of building a large distribution and logistics center for the needs of Serbian companies.
Milosavljevic is heading a Serbian state and business delegation, which includes Serbian Chamber of Commerce President Milos Bugarin and representatives of 14 Serbian companies, on a two-day visit to the Kaluga province. He assessed that this is a great offer considering the fact that some of the world's and Europe's business leaders are based in Moscow and in this part of the Russian Federation.
The Serbian minister said that Governor of the Kaluga region Anatoly Artamonov welcomed the Serbian delegation with the highest honors. "We discussed cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, as well as textile and furniture industries. I am certain these contacts will result in new exports of Serbian products to the Kaluga and Russian Federation market," Milosavljevic pointed out. He expressed hope that with new investments, Serbian companies will improve their position in the Russian market.
The region of Kaluga, with the administrative center in the city of Kaluga, is one of the most developed and highly populated areas in the Russian Federation - it covers around 100 square kilometers and is located some 200 kilometers from Moscow. It is a very attractive destination for investors, the Serbian minister explained.

MILETIC: SERBIA'S SECURITY SITUATION STABLE
BELGRADE, March 10 (Tanjug) - The security situation in Serbia is stable according to the presentation of the 2009 analysis of the Serbian Armed Forces' (VS) operational capabilities, which was attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic and top defence officials, the Defence Ministry has announced.
The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac, VS Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Miloje Miletic and top officers of the Ministry of Defence and the military. According to the announcement, the meeting participants reviewed the security situation in Serbia and the surrounding countries, the pace at which the military completed the tasks set before it in 2009 and some other issues that affect maintaining and improving the capabilities of the armed forces. The participants ended the meeting by making conclusions and setting priority tasks for the next period, which should further improve the capabilities of the military, the announcement reads.

SLOVENIA SEEKING SOLUTION FOR CONFERENCE IN BRDO NEAR KRANJ
BELGRADE, March 11 (Tanjug) - Slovenia is still seeking a solution for the attendance of the Serbian top officials and officials of Pristina institutions at the forthcoming regional conference on the Western Balkans to be held in Brdo near Kranj, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar has stated.
We are hoping that a solution will be found which will satisfy both sides, Zbogar said in an interview published by the Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti Thursday. We really want for this conference to achieve some results, he added. Zbogar stressed that Slovenia believes that Serbia's submitting of the request for EU accession is a sign that official Belgrade is ready to intensify its reform efforts.

SERBIA – KOPAONIK BUSINESS FORUM

DINKIC, DJELIC DIFFERENTLY ON SERBIA'S OVERCOMING OF CRISIS
KOPAONIK, March 11 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Ministers Mladjan Dinkic and Bozidar Djelic expressed different opinions Wednesday evening on Serbia's overcoming of the crisis through the stimulation of demand, unfreezing of salaries and pensions and introduction of subsidized cash loans in dinars.
In a debate at the Business Forum in Mt. Kopaonik, Dinkic pointed out that Serbia would immediately have to begin stimulating domestic demand by introducing long-term dinar loans up to RSD 300,000 (EUR 1 = RSD 100), with the payment period of up to three years and an interest rate lower than 10 percent. Dinkic said that this should be done until September, when the unfreezing of salaries and pensions is expected to happen.
Unlike Dinkic, Djelic stressed that Serbia should stimulate long-term savings in dinars and thereby create long-term sources of finance, rather than to rely on loans. Djelic assessed that it is about time that the social policy was no longer carried out through linear increase of salaries and pensions, but rather the money should be given to targeted social groups.

SERBIA AIMS TO BE AMONG 70 MOST COMPETITIVE COUNTRIES
KOPAONIK, March 10 (Tanjug) - Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic said Wednesday that the goal of the National Competitiveness Council is that Serbia finds itself among the top 70 most competitive countries on the list of the World Economic Forum (WEF) before the end of the current government's mandate.
Speaking at the Kopaonik Business Forum 2010, Djelic reminded that Serbia is at a low competitiveness level, ranked 93rd among 133 countries on the list, and added that the only countries from the region placed behind Serbia are Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He explained that the WEF list is made after summing up several different factors of competitiveness, and that Serbia is at the bottom of the list when it comes to its capacity to keep the elite investors, the efficiency of its anti-monopoly policy, and legal security.
The National Competitiveness Council compiled a list of 38 measures which should improve Serbia's position and are concerned with publishing of all administrative procedures and forms on the Internet and creating of a database of the sites in Serbia available for construction. The measures are also related to payment of communal taxes, resolution of problems related to transport permits, and energy efficiency. Djelic reminded that the EU has developed a strategy of growth for the period until 2020, and that competitiveness is at its essence. Serbia is far from the strategy's aims, since the current employment rate in the EU is 69 percent, and is planned to be 75 percent by 2020, while in Serbia the rate is around 50 percent, Djelic underlined.

KALANOVIC:FASTER GROWTH CONDITIONED BY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
KOPAONIK, March 10 (Tanjug) - Serbia's Minister for the National Investment Plan Verica Kalanovic said Wednesday that all models of Serbia's development after the economic crisis put infrastructure development among the priorities, as a prerequisite for a fast economic growth.
Kalanovic told Tanjug that the National Investment Plan will be financing nothing but infrastructure projects in 2010 and onward, meaning that it will not finance maintenance, equipment acquisition, consulting, subsidies and low interest credits. Kalanovic pointed out that the number of projects has gone down compared to previous years, and that things are done according to procedure, which is almost identical to the World Bank procedure.
According to Kalanovic, the National Investment Plan will have some RSD 26 billion at its disposal, of which RSD 15.5 billion will come from the country's budget, while RSD 10 billion will be supplied through a European Investment Bank project loan. Kalanovic stressed that a new model for project realization and management is needed, which includes a partial modernization of central management by improving the work of ministries and transforming some institutions. The minister acknowledged that project realization in Serbia is still slow, even though there was some progress in 2009, but she emphasized that the goal of the current government is to create the conditions that would allow for projects to be completed within several months from the moment the funds are granted.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

KFOR RESUMES COOPERATION WITH KSF
PRISTINA, March 10 (Tanjug) - Kosovo president and prime minister, Fatmir Sejdiu and Hasim Taci respectively, and KFOR Commander Markus Bentler agreed on Wednesday that the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) and KFOR will resume cooperation which KFOR suspended after members of the KSF ceremonial unit appeared armed at a ceremony in Pristina on March 5.
According to KFOR, it was agreed at the meeting that "KFOR will resume its training and mentoring role with the Kosovo Security Force." The Kosovo president and prime minister have worked with the KFOR commander to satisfactorily resolve the issues in question, which has resulted in a new agreement that covers the use of the KSF ceremonial unit, "which will continue to use demilitarized weapons when agreed by the KFOR commander," reads the KFOR statement.
The agreement "reaffirms that the Kosovo Security Force will have no defense or military role as that duty is undertaken by KFOR. Following the conclusion of this agreement, we can confirm that KFOR will resume its training and mentoring role with the Kosovo Security Force," it is concluded in the statement.