Belgrade, 12. 01. 2010.

serbia

• TADIC CONGRATULATES JOSIPOVIC ON ELECTION VICTORY
• JOSIPOVIC: CROATIA-SERBIA RELATIONS ARE STRATEGIC
• ASHTON: WESTERN BALKANS ONE OF EU PRIORITIES

• JELASIC: FOREIGN CURRENCY RESERVES WILL BE RATIONALLY USED
• EBRD TO CONSIDER SRBIJAGAS LOAN ON TUESDAY

• IVANOVIC: SITUATION UNFAVORABLE FOR DRASTIC KFOR REDUCTION

BELGRADE, Jan 11 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic congratulated Monday to Ivo Josipovic on the victory in the presidential elections in Croatia and urged him to work together on the establishing of the European civilization norms in the Western Balkans and preservation of peace and stability in the region.

"The future of all peoples and states in the region is in the European Union where we should be good neighbors and friends. Serbia and Croatia have the key role in the process of transformation of West Balkans into a zone of lasting stability and sustainable development. The prerequisites of such policy are establishing of a legal state, tolerance and work on joint economic goals and other values," Tadic said.

On the occasion of the lawsuit and counter lawsuit before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Tadic reiterated Serbia's stand that any confrontation between states and their people is futile, adding that it is more appropriate to solve such disputes by way of out-of-court settlements. However, domestic courts should protect the rights of victims, who as he underlined, must never be forgotten, the Serbian president's office stated. "There is no collective guilt and every criminal can be named. The criminals should be punished for their deeds for the sake of victims and their families and reconciliation of peoples in the Balkans," Tadic underscored.

According to him, Serbia expects from the new Croatian president the recognition of Serbia's integrity, return of the exiled Serbs, returning of their property, acknowledgement of human and minority rights, the right to work and employment and the right to the preservation of identity and culture, including the right to the use of letter and language. "Moreover, Serbia has the same obligation toward its Croatian national minority ," Tadic said.

ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Tanjug) - Newly elected Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has stated that he believes relations between Croatia and Serbia are strategic, expressing belief that he will soon meet with Serbian President Boris Tadic.

In an interview for the Croatian Nova TV Monday evening, Josipovic said that the idea that both countries should drop the lawsuits for genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is something that should be thoroughly and seriously discussed, to see whether certain problems and obstacles can be resolved without lawsuits. Croatia's lawsuit was filed when there was no will to handle issues like the fate of missing persons, war crime trials and return of cultural treasures that were lost in the war, but the situation has now improved, he pointed out.

The possible dropping of both lawsuits must be thoroughly discussed, as this is not a taboo, Josipovic said, adding that the citizens have certain unrealistic expectations about the lawsuit. That is why we need to break some illusions, because with high unrealistic expectations come great disappointments, Josipovic underscored. "Western Balkans one of EU priorities"

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Tanjug) - EU Foreign Policy High Representative Catherine Ashton says the future of Western Balkans will be one of the priorities of her activities.Ashton also and pointed out that she wants for the whole region to progress towards the Union in the future. In a speech before MPs of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP), she characterized visa abolishment for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia as a positive step, and described the political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina as complex. "Visa liberalization is a positive step for the three countries. When it comes to Bosnia, we should find a more effective strategy that will improve the country's current position," Ashton underlined. The new high representative for the EU foreign affairs stressed that her priorities will be to strengthen the Union and to assume a more credible role of the EU in the world. Her appearance before the EP marked the beginning of the hearing of the commissioners designate which will last until January 19.

BELGRADE, Jan 12 (Tanjug) - The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Radovan Jelasic stated that the central bank will carefully monitor the situation regarding the dinar exchange rate, and will intervene if necessary as it has sufficient foreign currency reserves, but it will not use them just in order to satisfy someone's wishes.

In an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Blic, Jelasic said that each intervention in the foreign currency market means a reduction of the country's foreign currency reserves and wondered where one could find the foreign currency if say, one day, he needed to meet certain incoming obligations deriving from indebtedness. "In the first eleven months the entire funding of the budget deficit was neutral for the money and foreign currency market, as the state has withdrawn money from the market through treasury records, and then returned it to the same market through payments. That means that the salaries, pensions, frozen foreign currency savings and other state expenditures were financed by the state's issuing of treasury records," he pointed out. However, in December Serbia's deficit was bigger than the issuing of state promissory notes and the fiscal policy was no longer neutral, whereas the main problem was not the volume of budget payments, as much as their concentration within an extremely short period of several days.

BELGRADE, Jan 11 (Tanjug) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will consider the approval of a EUR 150 million loan to Public Enterprise Srbijagas on Tuesday, it was announced on the international bank's website.

The loan money will be used for the purchase of gas, which will be stored in Hungary, and for improvements to the gas network, including environmental protection. Part of the money is intended for the construction of a new underground gas storage facility in Serbia and for other mid-term investments aimed at increasing Serbia's energy safety, including possible links to the gas networks of neighboring countries.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Jan 11 (Tanjug) - Serbian State Secretary with the Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Oliver Ivanovic stated Monday that the situation in Kosovo is not favorable enough for drastic reduction in the number of KFOR troops.

On the occasion of the announced reduction in the number of KFOR members, Ivanovic expressed misgivings that other missions in Kosovo have such strength as KFOR in view of reaction to possible attempts of destabilization of situation in the field. "Everything in Kosovo-Metohija is politicized and anything can cause destabilization. Bearing in mind that the social dissatisfaction among both the ethnic Albanians and Serbs is huge, protests may be expected and any protest may escalate if not controlled from the very beginning," Ivanovic said.

"I do not expect that Serbs would do anything to destabilize situation, but I believe that the ethnic Albanians often use social dissatisfaction of people to set certain political demands," Ivanovic told Tanjug. KFOR Sector North Commander Gen Lt Saint-Claire Deville stated that the planned reduction of international forces will also refer to the north part of Kosovo. KFOR Commander Gen Markus Bentler stated that the reconstructed forces will keep all capacities necessary to face the possible challenges. He added that the goal to have 10,000 soldiers in Kosovo will be realized by the end of January and after that, as he put it, the operation will be resumed with a more mobile and flexible structure.