KOSOVO & METOHIJA

JEREMIC THANKS OMAN FOR SUPPORT REGARDING KOSOVO ISSUE
MUSCAT, March 16 (Tanjug) - Foreign Minister Jeremic stated in Oman that he highly appreciates the policy of the Sultanate which is in keeping with international law and expressed gratitude for its support to Belgrade in view of the unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo-Metohija. According to the Oman News Agency ONA, following the talks with his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi, Jeremic said at a press conference that the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement should be held in Belgrade, 50 years after the last one was held in the Serbian capital, and invited the minister to visit Serbia soon. Jeremic announced that the two countries will appoint ambassadors to Muscat and Belgrade as part of promotion of their cooperation and sign several political and economic agreements.

OSCE: DETENTION ORDERED MAINLY WITHOUT APPROPRIATE REASONING
PRISTINA, March 15 (Tanjug) - The courts in Kosovo have made limited improvements in the reasoning of rulings on detention, and in a majority of the cases reviewed over a nine-month period judges failed to properly justify decisions imposing detention, OSCE stated in Pristina. In the manner, the judges were breaching international legal standards and domestic law, concluded the new OSCE report. According to the report, judges mainly cite three grounds when ordering detention: risk of flight, of tampering with evidence, and of re-offending. However, these grounds are not sufficiently reasoned in the decisions on detention. "Despite an adequate legal framework on use of detention in criminal proceedings, the rulings on detention issued by the courts very often fail to comply with these legal requirements, and detention is ordered without offering sufficient reasons to prove it necessary," said Markku Laamanen, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo."In addition, detention continues to be frequently ordered when the facts of the case do not warrant such a measure," he said.

SPC MONASTERIES IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA RESTORED
BELGRADE, March 16 (Tanjug) - Culture Minister Nebojsa Bradic has stated that so far a total of 22 monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) have been restored, out of 35 which were torn down or damaged during the Albanians' pogrom against the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) on March 17, 2004. Ahead of the sixth anniversary of the March pogrom against the Serbs, Bradic said that the restoration included the churches, monastery guest houses, seminaries, and the Bishops' Residence in Prizren. At this point, five monastery facilities are under construction, whereas three of them are in the public procurement procedure, Bradic stressed. He expressed his expectation that the cooperation of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia and UNESCO will be good and that a significant step will be taken in the reconstruction of the historical seat of the SPC, the Pec Patriarchy, and Visoki Decani Monastery. "The protection refers to the church buildings and certain values of these facilities, but in times like these it is important that we transmit the information on the artistic and historical significance of this heritage, as well as on the destruction that they were subjected to, which the citizens of Europe and the world know very little about," Bradic said. He underscored that, apart from the medieval monastery Visoki Decani, the Pec Patriarchy, the medieval Gracanica Monastery, and the Church of Our Lady of Ljevis in Prizren were also added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2006.

SERBIA – ECONOMY

ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN SERBIA AND KUWAIT TO IMPROVE
KUWAIT, March 15 (Tanjug) - Serbia and Kuwait have excellent political relations, but the economic cooperation between the two countries should be improved, Prime Minister Cvetkovic commented after meeting with Kuwaiti top political and economic officials. Cvetkovic said that he had thanked the Kuwaiti officials for not recognizing the unilateral independence of Kosovo, thereby helping to defend Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty. "We agreed that our bilateral relations are excellent, but that they should be further improved in the economic department," said Cvetkovic. The conclusions from a meeting at the Kuwaiti Chamber of Commerce state that the trade between the two countries is very low and needs improving, but also that something should be done to attract Kuwaiti investors to come to Serbia, Cvetkovic noted. According to Cvetkovic, the economic discussions will be continued.Cvetkovi met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, Chamber of Commerce Chairman Ali Mohammed Thunayan Al-Ghanim and General Director of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Abdulwahab Al-Bader. Serbia's Minister of Trade and Services Milosavljvic and Minister of Labour and Social Policy Ljajic are also members of the Serbian delegation.

CVETKOVIC VISITS SEAT OF KUWAIT OIL COMPANY
KUWAIT, March 16 (Tanjug) - The Serbian state delegation, headed by Prime Minister Cvetkovic, will end its three-day visit to Kuwait by visiting the seat of the Kuwait National Petroleum Company(KNPC) in the city of Al-Ahmadi, 30 km away from the capital of Kuwait. Cvetkovic had two meetings with the Kuwaiti political and economic officials, and two international agreements were signed, on health care and air traffic. After the meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Cvetkovic stated that Serbia and Kuwait have excellent political relations, but that the economic cooperation should be improved.

SERBIA & KUWAIT AGREE TO INTENSIFY ECONOMIC COOPERATION
KUWAIT, March 16 (Tanjug) - Prime Minister Cvetkovic stated at the end of his visit to Kuwait that he agreed with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmed al-Sabah to intensify the economic cooperation between the two countries in the forthcoming period. He said that the intensifying of cooperation primarily refers to the increase of trade and rise in Kuwait's potential investments in Serbia. "We have discussed Kuwait's potential investments in Serbia and participation of Serbian construction companies in construction works in Kuwait," Cvetkovic told Tanjug. He added that they also discussed activation of credit lines for infrastructure projects in Serbia, stressing the development of the railway. Cvetkovic visited the Scientific Center Kuwait and the Ahmadi-based Kuwait Oil Company, which is 30 km away from the capital of Kuwait. Cvetkovic and Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah, who welcomed Cvetkovic in Ahmadi, visited the exhibition of the Kuwait Oil Company.

SERBIA SIGNS PROTOCOL WITH JAPAN ON ACCESSION TO WTO
BELGRADE, March 16 (Tanjug) - Minister of Economy Mladjan Dinkic and Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of Japan in Belgrade Teruhiko Shinada signed a bilateral protocol on the completion of negotiations with Japan, as part of the process of Serbia's accession to the World Trade Organization. "There is a good chance we will become a member of WTO next year, as we will fully harmonize our legislation with the regulations of this organization by mid-year, and we plan conclude the remaining bilateral negotiations by the end of 2010," Dinkic said. Japan is the first WTO member with which Serbia signed a bilateral protocol, ever since the country has begun the process of accession to this organization in 2005.

SERBIA – EU

TIRK: EUROPE IS NOT WHOLE WITHOUT BALKANS IN EU
LJUBLJANA, March 15 (Tanjug) - We must persevere in the realization of the plan for Western Balkan countries to join the EU, Slovenian President Danilo Tirk said and added that Europe is not whole without this region. After a meeting with his Slovak counterpart Ivan Gasparovic, Tirk pointed to the wider significance of connecting the entire area from the Baltic to the Adriatic Sea and said that the EU accession of Balkan countries is the remaining part of the Union's enlargement program. Tirk also said that Slovenia and Slovakia have a common view of the EU, its development and its partnerships, Slovenian Press Agency STA reported. President Gasparovic welcomed Slovenia's initiative to hold a conference on the Western Balkans with the aim of establishing closer ties between the region and the EU.

KACIN: SERBIA ALONE DECIDES ON ITS PACE OF EU INTEGRATION
PRAGUE, March 16 (Tanjug) - EP Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin, who is paying a three-day visit to Serbia, has said that Serbia alone decides on the pace of the EU integration and that no one but Serbia and its state bodies can do what is necessary. We need to commend the progressive aspects and voice all the problems, Kacin said for the Radio Free Europe. However, the prerequirements should be met and no one but Serbia and its state bodies can do it instead. Serbia alone decides on its pace of EU integration, he added. According to Kacin, the purpose of his arrival in Belgrade is the preparation of the report on Serbia's progress, so that, when the time comes, it would be ready for further procedure of Serbia's EU integration.

SERBIA – REGION

SLOVENIA: STILL SEEKING SOLUTION FOR REGIONAL CONFERENCE
BELGRADE, March 15 (Tanjug) - The Slovenian Foreign Ministry, which plans to host a regional conference on the Western Balkans at Brdo pri Kranju on March 20, believes there is still room to find a solution for the participation of Kosovo representatives at the gathering. We are looking for a solution, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Uros Makhovec told, noting he currently has no other information. According to the media, the conference at which Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor planned to bring together Western Balkan leaders might not take place because a solution is yet to be found for the participation of the Kosovo delegation which would be satisfactory to both Belgrade and Pristina. For Serbia, it is of vital importance that the participation of the Kosovo delegation be in accordance with the resolution of the UN SC. Serbian President Boris Tadic reiterated on Sunday that Serbia will take part in the regional forum at Brdo pri Kranju only if representatives of Kosovo Albanians appear at the conference in accordance with UNSC Res 1244. Tadic said that Serbia's integrity must not be brought into question on the international scene, either explicitly or implicitly. Serbia wants Kosovo Albanians to be present at international forums, but their participation must be set up in such a way as not to jeopardize the territorial integrity of Serbia, Tadic said. The interim Pristina authorities are insisting on appearing at the conference only as an independent state.

SERBIA

SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ON PABSEC SESSION IN BELGRADE
ISTANBUL, March 15 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic stated that the main topic of the 35th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), which will be held from June 1 to 3 in Belgrade, will be the role of the parliament in strengthening international law. Parliamentarians from 12 BSEC's member-states will during the meeting discuss economic, cultural and other fields of cooperation, Dejanovic told in Istanbul, where she is paying a visit to PABSEC Secretariat. She there signed documents needed for holding the organization's forthcoming session in Belgrade.The parliament speaker specified that she signed the convocation of the session, by which she invited all 12 parliaments of the member-states, as well as 40 observers from the states which are to attend the meeting.Dejanovic added that she and PABSEC Sec General Alexey Kudriavtsev made arrangements for the technical details of the 35th PABSEC session. She pointed out that, in accordance with the alphabetical rotating chairmanship principle, the National Assembly of Serbia will be chairing the PABSEC in the first half of 2010. PABSEC is one of the four bodies of the BSEC.BSEC comprises 12 states of the Black Sea region, and Serbia has been a full member since Oct 2004.