Belgrade, April 20, 2010

SERBIA

COOPERATION WITH BULGARIA IS VITAL FOR NEIGHBORLY RELATIONS
SOFIA, April 19 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic expressed gratitude during the Monday talks with her Bulgarian counterpart Cecka Cacheva for Bulgaria's support to Serbia's EU path and pointed out that fostering cooperation with Bulgaria is extremely important for good neighborly relations.
"Our parliaments can launch the process of resolution of concrete issues in the areas of EU integration process, foreign policy, environment and transport by means of parliament bodies and commissions and resolve them directly in cooperation with respective ministries," Djukic-Dejanovic said.
The Serbian parliament speaker, who is on a one-day official visit to Bulgaria, expressed satisfaction with the willingness of both countries to find new areas of possible cooperation not only at the state-level, but also regarding the promotion of friendship between the two nations based on 130-year old diplomatic relations. Djukic-Dejanovic underlined the importance of parliamentary cooperation and expressed hope that this visit will play an important role in the general parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
"Bulgaria supports Serbia on its EU integration pathway," Cacheva said, adding that her country will back Serbia in all aspects that it needs to join the European family. Djukic-Dejanovic accepted Cacheva's invitation to participate in the forum of women leaders in the region that will be held in Sofia late in 2010.
Afterward, Djukic-Dejanovic conferred with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and on the occasion, they agreed that that in spite of different stands in view of the independence of Kosovo, it is necessary to promote regional cooperation since it is very important in the EU integration process.
Djukic-Dejanovic is scheduled to confer with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and Foreign Affairs Minister Nikolay Mladenov on Monday, the statement reads.

BUGARIN: SERBIA'S ECONOMY CONTINUES TO SLOWLY RECOVER
BELGRADE, April 19 (Tanjug) - The slow stabilization of economy, which started in the last quarter of 2009, has continued in the first months of this year, which means that the overcoming of the recession will be a sluggish and uncertain process, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) Milos Bugarin said on Monday.
Addressing the participants of a meeting the PKS Management Board, Bugarin said that in the first two months of 2010, industrial production had increased by three percent when compared with the same period last year, and pointed out that only in case the growth rate reaches at least 4.6 percent in the first quarter and seven percent in the second quarter is it possible to speak about end of recession.
In the short run, there can be no sustainable economic growth without a speedy and strong investment cycle in which the domestic building and processing industry will be included. Without this, it is not possible to achieve growth even in the long run, regardless of the reform of the public sector and the investments made into the change of structure, Bugarin underlined.

SOMBOR, SLOVENIA SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT
SOMBOR, April 19 (Tanjug) - Sombor Mayor Nemanja Delic and President of Slovenia's Business Club Rajko Maric signed Monday an agreement on business and technical cooperation. The goals of the agreement are economic development and attracting foreign investments.
Sombor is the first town in Vojvodina to start cooperation with Slovenia to improve competitiveness of domestic and foreign markets, help in the development of small and medium enterprises and provide incentives for cooperation with large companies, local officials said. The agreement also envisages joint promotion activities, organizing fairs and business forums and creating business incubators.

SWOBODA: PRAGMATIC SOLUTION FOR KOSOVO IS NECESSARY
VIENNA, April 19 (Tanjug) - The conference on the Western Balkans, to be held in Sarajevo on June 2, requires that all the participants should make an effort to find a solution which would take into consideration the legal positions of both sides regarding Kosovo, Vice-President of the Social-Democratic group in the European parliament Hannes Swoboda has stated.
Swoboda visited Serbia, where he held meetings with the Serbian politicians, and assessed that further steps towards finding a permanent solution for Kosovo can be expected after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gives its advisory opinion regarding the unilateral declaration of independence of the Serbian province. The steps toward the EU integration must continue, regardless of this issue, Swoboda said.
As for the conference in Sarajevo, he pointed out that the situation of the Serb population in Kosovo should improve and that regional cooperation between some municipalities in Kosovo and in Serbia should intensify. Swoboda said that regional cooperation could be realized in the areas of ecology and infrastructure, as well as in the fight against crime. The Serbian government has made progress in respect of the preparation for negotiations on EU accession, Swoboda, who is the EP Rapporteur for Croatia, stressed.
The Declaration on Srebrenica is an important result of dealing with recent history. The new statute of regional autonomy of Vojvodina is also exemplary. In this way Serbia is showing readiness to actively work on a peaceful and cooperative coexistence, he underscored. The economic trend of stabilization should continue, although it is also necessary to focus on resolving the most urgent social problems. The money from the EU funds can be used for that, Swoboda said.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

RADENKOVIC URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO BE MORE ACTIVE
ISTOK, April 19 (Tanjug) - Vice-President of the Serbian parliament committee for Kosovo and Metohija Dejan Radenkovic said Monday that the international community must finally exercise its mandate in Kosovo and enable all who wish to return to do so.
Over the weekend, Radenkovic visited Serb returnees in the Zac village near Istok. The main problem the returnees have is the feeling of insecurity, he said. Ethnic Albanians are holding daily protests very near the tents of the returnees, who fear that they might be attacked, Radenkovic said. These risks can only be removed by the international community, he said. He told Tanjug that returnees do not trust Kosovo authorities and can rely only on the international community since Belgrade has no jurisdiction in Kosovo.
Radenkovic accused the Kosovo government of sabotaging the return process by failing to react to protests by ethnic Albanians. Figures provided by Serbian authorities and international missions show that predictions that the return process would die down after the illegal declaration of independence were true, he said.

KFOR: KOSOVO POLICE TO PATROL BORDER WITH ALBANIA
PRISTINA, April 19 (Beta) - KFOR commander Markus Bentler said on April 19 that international peacekeeping forces would cede control over the Albanian border to the Kosovo Police late in April.
After meeting with U.S. Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, chief of NATO's Joint Forces Command Naples, Bentler said KFOR would continue to transfer responsibilities to the Kosovo Police as part of the withdrawal of KFOR from the border area. Bentler said this would be performed soon with the border zone toward Albania, and added that KFOR believed the Kosovo Police to be increasingly prepared, professional and efficient. He went on to say that the full transfer of authority would take place on April 28.The KFOR commander stated that the transfer of border control competency to the Kosovo Police would continue in other areas, but that there were no deadlines and that each country would be considered as a separate case. He did not comment on the possibility for the Kosovo Police to soon take control over the administrative line with Serbia proper.
We are cooperating with Serbia on preserving security in that area of the border zone, Bentler said. Adm. Fitzgerald stated that the transfer of authority to Kosovo institutions was an indication of progress in Kosovo. We do not want to wait until the last moment to transfer the competencies, but to do it while KFOR still has a strong presence, so that we can supervise, assist and advise, he said. Fitzgerald arrived in Kosovo on April 19. A visit by members of the NATO Military Committee, scheduled for the same day, was canceled due to air traffic problems.