Belgrade, 18. 01. 2010.

SERBIA

• TADIC SENDS TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCES TO HAITIAN PRESIDENT
• SERBIAN CONSUL TO CUBA SENT TO HAITI TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE
• PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ACCEPTS BIA REPORT
• BIA DIRECTOR OPTIMISTIC ABOUT COOPERATION WITH ICTY
• Swinnen: HAGUE CONTINUES COOPERATION WITH SERBIAN AUTHORITIES
• DACIC: SREBRENICA AND ALL OTHER CRIMES TO BE CONDEMNED
• KACIN FOR TADIC'S INITIATIVE, BUT AGAINST TWO RESOLUTIONS
• DACIC: SECURITY SITUATION IN ZONE IS STABLE
• ESPANA: SERBIA'S EU CANDIDACY TO BE DISCUSSED ON JANUARY 26
• WORLD BANK: SERBIA RANKED 88TH OUT OF 183 COUNTRIES
• BRADIC, KUSTURICA, DEPP AT OPENING OF THIRD KUSTENDORF

• DACIC: GOOD RELATIONS BETWEEN CROATIAN, SERBIAN
• JOSIPOVIC EXPECTS TADIC AT HIS INAUGURATION

• KOSOVO POLICE STOPS VISIT OF MINISTER BOGDANOVIC
• BOGDANOVIC: SERBS ARE NOT WELCOMED IN KOSOVO
• KFOR CONFIRMS REDUCTION OF TROOPS BY END OF JANUARY

BELGRADE, Jan 14 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic has sent a telegram of condolences to President of Haiti Rene Preval over the death of great number of people in the destructive earthquake which hit the country.

"Citizens of Serbia and I myself are deeply distressed by the news on the great number of casualties in your country. Please, accept my deepest condolences, and tell the families of the deceased and the people of Haiti that we sympathize with them in this difficult moment," the telegram of condolences reads. President Tadic discussed with the state authorities in charge that Serbia, in accordance with its possibilities, sends help to Haiti, the president's press service has released in a statement.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - The Serbian consul to Cuba was sent urgently to the quake hit area of Haiti on Wednesday to provide all the necessary assistance to the Serbian citizens and members of the UN mission in that country, the Serbian Foreign Ministry told Tanjug.

According to the information received so far, there are no Serbian citizens in Haiti outside the UN mission, and the ones who are part of the mission are all fine. Representatives from the Foreign Ministry are in continuous contact with representatives from the UN, UN police mission and the Haitian authorities, according to what Tanjug has learned.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - The parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security accepted Wednesday the reports on the work of the Security - Information Agency (BIA) from March to October 2009 and on the country's security situation, and the greatest number of objections at the session, which lasted around three hours, came from the MPs of the Radical Party of Serbia (SRS). Eight members of the Committee voted for accepting the reports, whereas four radicals abstained from voting.

Presenting the reports to the committee members, Director of BIA Sasa Vukadinovic said that the security situation in Serbia is stable, that the act of illegal self-proclamation of independence of Kosovo and Metohija remains the biggest destabilizing factor and that the agency's priority is to complete the cooperation with The Hague Tribunal. He pointed out that Serbia is continuously exposed to certain security risks and that they are the highest priority of BIA's work, since the destabilization of Serbia and other countries in the region is possible.

Answering the question of SRS MPs what is the cooperation between BIA and other security services in the country like, Vukadinovic said that there are no problems and that it cannot be better, and added that, when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija, this cooperation is daily-based. Speaking of BIA's operations in Kosovo, he explained that the work of the agency in that field is made harder by the fact that it cannot be physically present in Kosovo, because of which all the security operations are undertaken by international powers, but he underscored that BIA does all it can to protect Serbs in Kosovo.

Director of BIA pointed out that the agency was also working on fighting religious extremism and terrorism, adding that the state bodies, including BIA, reacted very good and diminished the security risk from concrete dangers, especially regarding the existence of extreme Islamic structures. Vukadinovic underlined that the agency carefully considered the activities of the ultra-right organizations, neo-Nazi and other extreme groups, and added that, when it comes to this issue, a good cooperation was established with the MUP and that the exchange of information led to arresting of some members of such organizations.

Fighting international organized crime is also a segment of BIA's work, he said, and pointed out that in this field too they established successful cooperation with the services and agencies of other countries, such as the confiscation of 2.8 tons of cocaine in Latin America. Vukadinovic underscored that BIA will continue to work on fighting organized criminal groups and added that this will require an additional engagement in 2010.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Serbian Security Information Agency (BIA) Director Sasa Vukadinovic stated that the agency has no information on the location of International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indictee Ratko Mladic, but that he is optimistic in view of the arrest of Mladic and Goran Hadzic.

Vukadinovic told journalists in the Serbian parliament after the session of the parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security that the agency's priority is to locate and arrest the two remaining indictees. "BIA is carrying out continuous activities primarily aimed at the arrest of the two remaining fugitives," Vukadinovic said and added that BIA cooperates with other security agencies in Serbia and other state organs in view of the issue.

He said that he cannot give any deadlines since this is an activity of search which cannot be related to a certain date. Vukadinovic said that the persons saying that Mladic is in Serbia or abroad should provide concrete information on his whereabouts.

THE HAGUE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Special Adviser of the ICTY Chief Prosecutor Frederick Swinnen said Wednesday that the first meeting with the Serbian Action team for the cooperation with The Hague Tribunal was held on Tuesday, and added that the search for the remaining two Hague indictees, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, will be continued.

At a press conference, Swinnen refused to comment on the recent resign of Rasim Ljajic at the post of the coordinator of the Action team for locating and arresting the remaining two indictees, the Tribunal released in a statement. The special adviser reminded that Ljajic is still heading the National Council for Cooperating with the ICTY, and pointed out that The Hague Tribunal will keep cooperating with him as well as with a new coordinator of the Action team.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - The Interior Minister and Socialist Party of Serbia leader, Ivica Dacic, has said that the Serbian parliament should adopt a resolution which would condemn the Srebrenica crime, but also all other crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and assessed that the document should be supported by as many MPs as possible.

Dacic said for the Belgrade-based daily Blic that statements from party whips indicated that a resolution condemning only the crimes committed in Srebrenica would not gain wide parliamentary support. The interior minister views as unimportant whether the condemnation of the crime will be expressed through one or two separate resolutions.

BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin welcomed Wednesday the announcement of Serbian President Boris Tadic that the Serbian parliament will adopt the Srebrenica resolution and expressed hope that this will be done soon.

"To condemn this most atrocious crime in the West Balkans should be a priority in Serbia's efforts to distance from all war crimes which burden its past," Kacin said in a statement filed to Tanjug. However, Kacin pointed out that it would be better for Serbia to adopt just one resolution, the one that refers to Srebrenica, and not two as Tadic announced, including the other one referring to the condemnation of Serb victims.

"Not denying the need to condemn all crimes, the question arises why Belgrade connected the additional resolution with the moment of the adoption of the Srebrenica resolution," Kacin said and added that by the adoption of the second resolution, the Serbian parliament would "to a certain extent relativise and weaken the message that would condemn the genocide in Srebrenica."

MEDVEDJA, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic evaluated Wednesday, during his visit to the land security zone, that the security situation at the administrative line between Serbia and Kosovo-Metohija is stable, and pointed out that the Gendarmerie officers and the Serbian Police (MUP) are prepared to secure peace and safety for all citizens.

After touring the police department and the Gendarmerie headquarters in the village Marovac, Dacic told news reporters that the stable security situation was also assured by the police work on finding the missing weapons, preventing smuggling and other criminal activities.

The minister underscored that the biggest interest of Serbia is that the citizens in that region have peace and stability, regardless of their nationality, and stressed that it is necessary to invest into the infrastructure of the municipalities of Medvedja, Presevo and Bujanovac. Dacic also pointed out the necessity of preventing illegal forest cutting and other forms of smuggling, especially of excise goods, and stressed that when it comes to such activities, MUP cooperates with KFOR and EULEX.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Serbia will be informed on the attitude of the EU member states regarding its EU candidacy bid and the next steps that are to be taken, Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana has stated.

"We have started consultations with EU member states on Serbia's demand and on January 26, EU is to meet with Serbia at the ministerial level and we believe that Serbia will be given a clear insight into our position and which are further steps in view of Serbia's EU candidacy application," Espana said in an interview for Tanjug. He reiterated that his country strongly supports Serbia's EU candidacy.

"When presenting Serbia's bid on January 7 we underscored that it is particularly important that Serbia, which has an important role in the region, has decided to file EU candidacy bid. Spain believes that the Council should ask from the European Commission (EC) to prepare a recommendation for acquiring the status of a candidate," the ambassador said. However, he stated that the ministerial meeting scheduled for January 26 is not, in its form, an appropriate occasion to render a formal decision on filing of Serbia's bid to the EC, as proscribed by the regular procedure. Espana said that the decision is made in the General Affairs Council, adding that he cannot precise when Serbia's bid will be placed on the agenda.

BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - According to the World Bank 2010 report on the ease of doing business, Serbia is ranked 88th out of 183 countries, said Serbian Market Research Institute Associate (IZIT) Sasa Djogovic.

One of the parameters for the final rating was the market environment for doing business i.e. starting a business - the required time, paperwork, expenses, red tape etc., Djogovic pointed out, stressing that Serbia improved in this category compared to 2009, jumping from 108th to 73rd position. When it comes to the procurement of construction permits, Serbia has approximately the same ranking as in 2009, he said and specified that there was a slight drop from 172nd to 174th position.

When it comes to tax rates, Serbia dropped from 126th position in 2009 to 136th in 2010, and it also recorded a slight drop in the Trading Across Borders category - from 67th to 69th position, Djogovic said. He assessed that Serbia's export-import business ranking is not due to deterioration in the country, but probably because the state in Serbia is unchanged while other countries experienced improvements.

MOKRA GORA, Jan 14 (Tanjug) - The third annual international film and music festival Kustendorf opened with the unveiling of the statue of American actor Johnny Depp in Drvengrad (Wooden Town) on the Mecavnik Mt. on Wednesday evening while the manifestation was officially opened by Serbian Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic.

"Nowadays, knowing that some blockbusters earn over a billion dollars, we may think that there is no hope for small nations and films made in their language. We may think that the world was created only for the big and wealthy and that in such a world there is no place for small productions that reflect the problems of an ordinary man," Bradic told the present in the cinema hall Prokleta Avlija.

However, the Kustendorf Festival is one of those that arouse hope, Bradic underscored and praised Kustendorf founder and renowned director Emir Kusturica calling him 'the doctor of anti-globalism'. Johnny Depp stated before the guests in the cinema hall that he had a long and interesting journey. Luckily, there are people who offer you opportunity to preserve the true art such as Emir Kusturica, Jim Jarmusch, Tim Burton. For such people, I am still in the world of film, Depp stated.

NIS, Jan 14 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic stated Wednesday evening that the relations between the interior ministries of Serbia and Croatia were good in the past period unlike the political relations between the two countries.

Dacic expressed expectation that the relations between the two countries will be changed by the election of new Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, and recalled that he congratulated him both as the deputy prime minister and the president of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

"I expect that Josipovic will be the encouraging factor for the promotion of the bilateral relations," Dacic said in Nis, where he was to welcome the Orthodox New Year with police officers and members of the Gendarmerie. Ivo Josipovic, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), won the second round of the presidential elections in Croatia with 60.26 percent of the votes.

ZAGREB, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Newly elected Croatian President Ivo Josipovic stated Wednesday that he expect Serbian President Boris Tadic to be among the high-ranking guests at his inauguration on February 18.

"The list of foreign guests at the inauguration is currently being composed. I believe that the Serbian president will be among them," Josipovic said in an interview for Zagreb-based daily Jutarnji List. When asked what he intends to do in order to improve relations with Serbia, which, according to the daily, departing president Stjepan Mesic additionally impaired by his visit to Kosovo and granting amnesty to Sinisa Rimac, Josipovic said: "I have already underscored that the relations with neighbors are one of our priorities since our security depends on them. Moreover, cooperation with neighbors is also important for our economy given that we are mainly export-oriented to those states and we also expect the arrival of new tourists."

STRPCE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - The Kosovo police prevented the visit of Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic to Strpce, telling him that he cannot be in that territory without the permission of the Kosovo government. After the visit to the village of Sevce, the convoy of Serbian vehicles was stopped by strong forces of Kosovo police, headed by members of the special police unit Rosa.

Bogdanovic demanded to see the written order of Kosovo government, when the regional police commander told him that there is only an oral order saying that he must leave Kosovo. After a short dispute, Bogdanovic was escorted to the northern Kosovo by the armed members of the special unit of Kosovo police, and it is yet unknown whether Bogdanovic will be escorted to the administrative border crossing Merdare or to the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, upon which he insisted.

Bogdanovic told the journalists that this was a reckless move of Kosovo authorities, as he is a citizen of Kosovo and as such, he has a right to be in Kosovo, regardless of his position as a minister. "This is an example which shows that there is no freedom of movement in Kosovo and that the Serbian citizens of Kosovo, like me, are denied the basic human right to freedom of movement," Bogdanovic said. He said that he does not want to cause any incidents, adding that this is the best example of how Serbs in Kosovo live.

MERDARE, Jan 13 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic stated that by preventing his visit to Strpce, the Pristina administration has sent a message to all Serb returnees that they are not welcomed.

"It was like I was there to open army barracks and police stations and not to talk with people and see which kind of problems they are faced with and what can be done to help them," Bogdanovic told Tanjug after the Kosovo police escorted him to the administrative border crossing Merdare. Bogdanovic pointed out that it is unacceptable that he was denied the freedom of movement at the moment when Belgrade promotes pragmatic and constructive policy and sends messages of peace. "It is even stranger that I, being a citizen of Kosovo-Metohija and having the documents of Kosovo-Metohija, was in such a situation. This is certainly a message to all Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and those who want to return to Kosovo that they are not welcomed," Bogdanovic stated.

The Kosovo police prevented Bogdanovic's visit to Strpce, telling him that he cannot be in that territory without the permission of the Kosovo government.

PRISTINA, Jan 14 (Tanjug) - At the end of January, KFOR will have 10,000 soldiers and their competence and structure will be adjusted in keeping with the existing demands for the maintenance of a secure environment, the KFOR base in Pristina stated on Wednesday.

All multinational tactical forces in Kosovo will be configured into multinational battle groups by the end of January, the statement reads. It was also announced that from January 15 to February 24, KFOR main base will perform exercises across Kosovo in order to assess the new structures and the exercises will include training in the field and coordination of operation. These exercises are not a response or preparation for any existing or expected situation in Kosovo. Their purpose is to enable the KFOR forces to maintain a high level of readiness and be prepared for rapid deployment in response to any scenario, the statement said.