Belgrade, 21. 01. 2010.

SERBIA – CZECH REPUBLIC

• CVETKOVIC CONFERS WITH KOHOUT
• KOHOUT: SERBIA IS ON RIGHT PATH TO EU INTEGRATION
• DJELIC & KOHOUT: TO EXPAND GOOD COOPERATION
• SUTANOVAC & KOHOUT CONFER ON POLITICAL & SECURITY SITUATION

• TADIC TO ADDRESS UN SECURITY COUNCIL ON MESIC'S THREATS
• TADIC WILL NOT ATTEND JOSIPOVIC'S INAUGURATION
• ZAGREB: UNFOUNDED AND NERVOUS REACTION TO MESIC'S STATEMENT
• VUKICEVIC & JANDROKOVIC: RELATIONS BETTER THAN PUBLIC SEES THEM
• LJAJIC: TWO RESOLUTIONS ARE HEALTHY COMPROMISE
• DODIK: NOT POSSIBLE FOR SERBIA TO SAY RS CAN SECEDE FROM BIH

• JEREMIC: STRATEGY FOR NORTHERN KOSOVO IS PROVOCATION
• FAJON: KOSOVO VISA LIBERALIZATION PROCESS WILL TAKE TIME
• THIRD CROATIAN CONTINGENT LEAVES FOR KOSOVO

• CVETKOVIC MEETS WITH EU AMBASSADORS
• LJAJIC: WE PRESUME WHERE MLADIC IS
• ZAPATERO ON GREEK INITIATIVE FOR WESTERN BALKANS
• BASESCU: SERBIA'S EU ACCESSION IN ROMANIA'S INTEREST
• SPINDELEGGER: ALL WEST BALKAN COUNTRIES TO JOIN EU BY 2020
• DRAGIN: SERBIA WILL GET ASSISTANCE FOR EU INTEGRATION
• DRUCAS ON BALKANS EU INTEGRATION
• PACE DELEGATION MEETS WITH SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER

• JELASIC: SERBIA IS OUT OF CRISIS
• IMF: SALARY FREEZE SHOULD NOT BE ENDED

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said Wednesday meeting Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jan Kohout that bilateral relations are good and that Serbia hopes to foster all forms of cooperation with the Czech Republic. He pointed to the importance of fostering economic cooperation and investments in the future, the government press office said. Kohout said that the Czech Republic is interested in investing in Serbia, especially in the reconstruction of its railway network. The Czech Republic is Serbia's important partner in the process of its Integration in the European Union and it will continue to support Serbia in this regard, it was noted during the meeting.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - The Czech Republic unreservedly supports Serbia's endeavors for European Union integration, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jan Kohout and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic said Wednesday. The Czech Republic also advocates placing the issue of Serbia's candidacy for EU membership on the agenda of the EU Council of Ministers session in the spring, they noted after their meeting. In 2009, the Czech Republic also supported the visa liberalization for Serbia's citizens and the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement, and today it supports granting to Serbia the status of candidate for EU membership as soon as possible, Djelic noted. Kohout said that the Czech Republic will also provide assistance to Serbia in fulfilling the necessary criteria for EU integration. Serbia is on the right path to EU integration, and its negotiations with European structures is strongly supported in the EU, he said. Djelic said that Serbia can learn a lot from the Czech Republic, as one of the most successful countries in transition and a new EU member-state. In the past 20 years, the Czech Republic has attracted nearly USD 90 billion in foreign investments, he said. Energy and railways are important sectors in bilateral cooperation, Djelic said. Negotiations are underway on an investment of up to EUR 300 million in the Nis - Dimitrovgrad Corridor 10 rehabilitation, he added. The two ministers also agreed Wednesday to sign later this year a technical memorandum on cooperation in EU integration process.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Serbia and Czech Republic have an excellent cooperation which will be continued and expanded to several areas, Serbian and Czech Deputy Prime Ministers, Bozidar Djelic and Jan Kohout respectively, assessed. At the press conference 'Czech Republic and Serbia: Cooperation for Integration' held at the Czech Embassy in Belgrade, Djelic said that the interest of the official Belgrade is to attract as many investments to Serbia as possible. In the period of 2000-2008, Czech has invested around USD 20.8 million in Serbia. "Two areas of cooperation between Serbia and Czech Republic are a priority - energy and infrastructure. We expect that Czech companies will invest around EUR 300 million in the reconstruction of Corridor 10 section from Nis to Dimitrovgrad, which is the most important project in the area of transport infrastructure in Serbia," said Djelic, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration. Kohout, who is also Czech Minister for Foreign Affairs, said that Czech Republic will continue supporting Serbia's further Euro-Atlantic integration. He said that he expects that the issue of Serbia's candidacy in the EU will be included in the Council of Ministers' agenda as early as this spring.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac conferred with Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jan Kohout on bilateral cooperation. The talk also focused on the political and security situation in the region. They agreed that cooperation in the defense sector is one of the most important cooperation segments, with a special emphasis on military training. They also noted that there is scope for fostering bilateral cooperation in the defense sector further, the Serbian Defense Ministry said.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - President Boris Tadic will address the UN Security Council on Friday, January 22, and inform it of the threats to regional security contained in a recent statement by outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, the president's press service told. Mesic's statement on Croatia's military intervention in case a referendum is held on Republika Srpska independence constitutes direct warmongering and a threat to regional security, President Tadic said. It is a threat to the safety of all people and all nations in the region, he said. Tadic will consequently raise this issue at the session of the UN Security Council, as the body most responsible for world peace and stability, Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said Tuesday that, if Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik violated the Dayton Agreement by holding a referendum on secession, he would immediately send the Croatian army to block the Brcko corridor, thus paralyzing RS, which would "need to disappear right away." The Brcko corridor is a 15 kilometer-wide strip of territory stretching from north to south which connects the east and west parts of RS at the town of Brcko, and it is located some 30 kilometers from the Croatian border crossing of Zupanja.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - After the information that Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu has accepted the invitation to attend the inauguration of the new Croatian president, it is certain that President Tadic will not be at the event.Spokesperson for the Kosovo President Dzavit Beciri confirmed that Sejdiu will attend Ivo Josipovic's inauguration in Zagreb, scheduled for February 18. Tadic told that he would not be present at the inauguration if Sejdiu was there because it would be an indirect recognition of Kosovo's independence. Accroding to Tadic, Serbia is willing to take part in regional meetings where Kosovo is present under the name UNMIK-Kosovo or Kosovo-UNMIK. "This, however, is a political event - the inauguration of a Croatian president - and I am willing to go only if that does not threaten Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tadic concluded.

ZAGREB, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - The cabinet of the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic dismissed on Thursday the "unfounded and nervous reaction in Croatia and the region" to Mesic's statement that the Croatian army would be sent to BiH if Republika Srpska (RS) called a referendum on secession, claiming that he had used "a conditional" and that he had made the statement "in informal talks with journalists." "So, we are speculating over something that could happen if something else happened - that is if the RS seceded from the independent and internationally recognized Bosnia-Herzegovina and if it was annexed to Serbia," the cabinet of the Croatian president released in a statement. "Basically, the president's words should be viewed as a warning that the world should not turn a blind eye to the policy of Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and the possible effects of such a policy, as it had been blind for so long to the policy of Slobodan Milosevic which had led to the disintegration of former Yugoslavia and bloodshed," the statement reads. Addressing the journalists on January 18, at reception which is traditionally organized on the occasion of Christmas and New Year holidays, outgoing President Mesic said that in case RS called a referendum on independence, he would immediately send the Croatian army to block the Brcko corridor, thus paralyzing RS, which would "need to disappear right away."

ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Serbian Ambassador to Croatia Stanimir Vukicevic and Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandrokovic assessed in Zagreb that relations between Croatia and Serbia are objectively better than the public sees them. The statement of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MVPEI), conveyed by the Croatian news agency Hina, said that, during their first meeting, the two officials agreed on the progress of the economic, cultural and tourism cooperation and communication of state institutions. They particularly stressed the need for strengthening the work of both countries' expert services on the solving of open issues. Jandrokovic expressed his belief that Croatia-Serbia relations from the phase of rivalry will grow into a mutual interest partnership. He also supported Serbia's EU perspective in the political and technical sense. In that context, the Croatian minister pointed out that one of the proofs of such a position is the Croatian government's decision to consign to Serbia and other Southeast European countries which are interested in the issue, all the documents referring to the EU legal framework which have been translated into Croatian, the statement reads.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic assessed in Belgrade that two resolutions regarding the condemnation of crimes in Srebrenica and other crimes in the territory of former Yugoslavia are a "logic formula" and a "healthy compromise." In a show on the Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS), Ljajic said that consultations regarding these resolutions are underway, adding that they will be brought before parliament at the beginning of next month and that he expects that they will soon be adopted. Ljajic admitted that he is surprised by the number of protests and strikes, but he noticed that they cannot be put in the same basket, as there are expressions of dissatisfaction which are completely justified, those which are partly justified and those completely unjustified. "What is necessary is to be clear and honest and not to make promises that cannot be kept, because if a precedent is made and we start buying social peace in a cheap way, it will soon backfire to the Serbian government," Ljajic underscored.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said that the date of the referendum might be known by the end of January, adding that the referendum question will be "Do you support the Dayton Agreement and oppose its violation." Pointing out that RS will not back down on holding a referendum on its fate within Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dodik said in an interview with Belgrade daily Danas that phrasing the referendum question like this will eliminate all possible objections to it being an anti-Dayton act. He denied the speculation that he is preparing a referendum on RS's secession from BiH, saying that "it is not on the agenda at the moment", but he did not rule out the possibility of holding a referendum on the issue at some future date, depending on how the situation develops. Commenting on the fact that Serbia does not support the referendum in RS, Dodik said that he did not expect a different stance because Serbia is a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Accords. "Anyway, how is it possible for Serbia to say that Kosovo cannot secede from Serbia, but RS can secede from BiH," the RS prime minister wondered.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic characterized as a provocation the plan of, as he put it, the "illegal" International Civilian Office (ICO) and the "illegal" institutions in Pristina, to establish the institutional government of Pristina in the north of Kosovo, and evaluated that such an announcement cannot contribute to the stability of the southern Serbian province. "The provocative announcements of illegal institutions in Pristina, as well as of the illegal international organizations such as the so-called International Civilian Office, are something that cannot lead to the easing and stabilization of the situation on the field, which should be everybody's aim," Jeremic said. ICO and the government in Pristina are preparing a strategy for the north, which comprises the decentralization of municipalities in the north of Kosovo-Metohija and the enforcement of Kosovo laws in that part of the province. It is also envisaged that at the end of the year, local elections be held in three northern municipalities - Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok. Following a meeting with his Czech counterpart Jan Kohout, Jeremic told a news conference that the situation in Kosovo is "serious and complex," which is why the Serbian delegation to attend the Friday UNSC session will be headed by President Boris Tadic. "We view the situation in Kosovo as extremely serious and complex, and that is one of the reasons why we decided that Serbia be presented at the highest state level before the SC," he explained. According to him, the country insists on finding a compromise solution and the way to continue the cooperation, in spite of the different positions on the status of the southern Serbian province. "Serbia is doing all it can to preserve peace and stability in every part of its territory, including the region over which it does not have full administrative capacity," Jeremic concluded.

BONN, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Special Rapporteur for Visa Liberalisation of the European Parliament Tanja Fajon assessed that the visa liberalization process for Kosovo will take some more time, having in mind the conditions that Pristina needs to fulfill and the fact that Kosovo's independence has not been recognized by all EU member states. This is a very delicate issue, Fajon said. On the one hand, Kosovo must do plenty of things on its own, and on the other hand, there are five EU member states which do not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Therefore, visa liberalization for Kosovo will take a little longer, she added, the radio Deutsche Welle reports. When it comes to the implementation of visa liberalization in Serbia Fajon said that everything is going without problems. Unlike Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina can expect to obtain visa liberalization sooner, by July 2010, she said.

ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - A third Croatian contingent of 20 members of the Croatian Armed Forces, mostly from the Croatian Air Force and Air Defense with two transport helicopters Mi-171-Sh, left for the NATO KFOR (Kosovo Force) peacekeeping operation in Kosovo, on Wednesday, January 20, for a period of four months. The third Croatian contingent will be deployed in the area of Camp Bondsteel near Urosevac, the Croatian Defense Ministry said. The fundamental task of the Croatian contingent, consisting of three helicopter crew, aeronautical-technical team for maintenance and support of the national element, is hauling people and cargo. For the first time the KFOR Croatian contingent, will comprise two women, one a pilot and one a technician.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - The EU Delegation to Serbia has announced that Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic met with EU ambassadors in Belgrade, adding that the main topic of the meeting were Serbia's European integration prospects. Cvetkovic was the guest of honour at a lunch with EU ambassadors organized by Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert and Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana. "Discussions focused on Serbia's European integration perspectives following the positive achievements of 2009. The Prime Minister and the ambassadors also exchanged views on political and economic developments in Serbia, as well as on regional co-operation," the announcement states. Cvetkovic reaffirmed Serbia's nationwide consensus regarding its European orientation and association with the EU, as shown by its EU membership application, submitted in December 2009. Degert pointed out to the positive achievements in relations between Serbia and the EU in 2009, like the implementation of the visa liberalization and Interim Agreement. Degert stressed the need to keep the positive momentum in relations between Serbia and the EU and continue the reforms within the country.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - There are presumptions as to where Ratko Mladic is hiding, but they only mean something to people involved in operative activities regarding the search for this Hague fugitive, President of the National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY Rasim Ljajic stated. Ljajic, who resigned from the position of member of the Action team for locating and arresting of Hague fugitives Mladic and Hadzic, said for the RTS that all information is shared with the ICTY representatives. Owing to this, Ljajic added, Serbia and its military and civil security services have gained trust of the international community and the ICTY, hence the positive report of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz. Ljajic said that he does not want to fall into a trap by claiming that Mladic is or is not in Serbia, because the only truth is that the authorized bodies do not know where he actually is.

STRASBOURG, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Spanish Prime Minister and EU Chairman Jose Luis Zapatero said in Strasbourg that "attention should be given" to a Greek initiative regarding Western Balkans, which envisages the EU accession of the countries in the region in 2014. Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou has always advocated the positions which deserved to be heard. We will therefore give our attention to the initiative, Zapatero said after visiting the European Parliament. Zapatero, whose country will head the EU until July 1, also said that he wants to resolve quickly the dispute between the authorities in Skopje and Greece regarding the name of the Former Yu Republic of Macedonia.

BUCHAREST, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Serbia's acession to the EU and NATO represents a national interest for Romania, Romanian President Traian Basescu said at the start of his new five-year term. Western Balkans is extremely important for Romania as a stable and prosperous area in its immediate proximity, which, for the states in this region, translates as supporting the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes, he said during the annual meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Bucharest, on Wednesday. Romania has built an international image of a state that respects and promotes the law in the international relations and backs its interests by relying on the full respect for the international law, Basescu said. "In February 2009, the International Court of Justice pronounced a fair solution on the case of the delimitation of the Black Sea maritime areas. This positive experience offers me the necessary arguments to encourage the use of the international jurisdiction system in full confidence. There is similar logic in Romania's active involvement in the case of expressing a consultative opinion at the International Court of Justice on Kosovo issue", the president said quoted by Romanian agency Agerpres.

VIENNA, Jan 21 (Tanjug) -Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger assessed, in addressing the ranking officials at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, that his vision of Europe is that all West Balkan countries join the EU by 2020. I expect that in the next few months, the EU member-countries will finally approve the SAA with Serbia, Spindelegger pointed out. Speaking about the priorities of Austria's foreign policy in 2010, he underlined that Vienna has a leading role in the Balkans as an advocate of that region, and added that Austria is interested in the fastest possible EU accession of those countries.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Serbian Agriculture Minister Sasa Dragin said Wednesday that Serbia's delegation to the second summit of agriculture ministers in Berlin was assured that Serbia will get all available assistance in the process of EU integration. The participants assured the delegation that the Serbian Agriculture Ministry will get all available financial and political assistance for capacitating its institutions for integration in the European Union, he told Tanjug. Serbia's delegation attended last week-end the second summit of agriculture ministers held in Berlin on the sidelines of the Green Week food, agriculture and technology fair. All interlocutors in bilateral meetings commended what Serbia has done in the agriculture sector in the past year, Dragin said. He noted that 28 laws on the agriculture sector were drafted and 15 were passed. These laws were coordinated with the EU agricultural policy, he said. In addition, several institutions necessary for EU integration were created, Dragin said. One of these institutions is the administration for agrarian payments, which will be responsible for receiving aid totalling between EUR 50 and 60 million annually once Serbia becomes a candidate for EU membership, he said.

VIENNA, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - The European Union (EU), as the most successful role model of peace, has to symbolically take the responsibility and take care for peace and stability in the Balkans, Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Drucas pointed out in an interview for the Vienna daily Der Standard. He explained that Greece is advocating that the Agenda 2014, which should succeed the Thessaloniki Agenda, encourages West Balkans EU integrations. In 2003, when Greece headed the EU, the Thessaloniki Agenda gave the countries of the Western Balkans the concrete perspective for EU accession for the first time. In the previous few years, the dynamics weakened. We now chose 2014 as the target year, under the aspect that a hundred years from World War One will pass then. The EU, as the most successful role model of peace, should symbolically take the responsibility and take care for peace and stability in the Balkans. Austria shares our position on the issue, Drucas underlined. When it comes to the dispute with Macedonia, Drucas explained that the biggest part of the region is in Greece, and that Skopje gives itself the right to represent the whole region from the outside. "Territorial pretensions cannot be excluded in this case. The Greek government has showed the will for cooperation from the very first moment. However, the echo coming from Skopje is still not as we would like it to be.Greece wants to be the country which will usher Skopje into the EU, within the scope of the Agenda 2014. The precondition, however, is that the issue on the naming is solved," Drucas concluded.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - Head of the Monitoring Committee of the European Council Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Andreas Gross said that the organization wants to complete the process of monitoring Serbia's progress in fulfilling the obligations of PACE membership by the end of this or beginning of next year, but that this requires certain laws to be passed in the Serbian parliament. We want to complete the monitoring process by the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011. But certain changes need to happen in Serbia for us to even be able to propose this - certain laws need to be passed and the ministries need to introduce some changes, Gloss said after the meeting with Serbian Assembly Speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic. Djukic Dejanovic said that the Serbian parliament, whose functioning was blocked at the time of the last meeting, is no longer hindering the continued development of democracy and European integration. Reminding that 298 laws and 96 other acts have been passed in this mandate, Djukic Dejanovic added that she also discussed the parliament's plans for the coming months with the monitoring delegation.

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Tanjug) - According to economic indicators, Serbia is already out of the crisis, but the citizens will feel the improvement in 2011, National Bank of Serbia Governor Radovan Jelasic stated for RTS. Jelasic pointed out that increased credit activity and the fact that the GDP would likely go up by 1.5 percent in 2010 after the last year's decline showed that Serbia had emerged from the global economic crisis. "A concrete improvement for the citizens will most likely happen in 2011," he said at the Euromoney Central and Eastern European Forum in Vienna, adding that there is a gap between promises and what is being implemented in reality. Jelasic added that he does not expect a significant employment increase in Serbia in 2010. He stressed that this in not only the case in Serbia, but rather in the entire region and in the world, since everyone is scared and they are wondering how stable the current positive development is.

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Serbia Bogdan Lissovolik told Tanjug on Wednesday that a decision to end the salary freeze in Serbian public companies prematurely would not be a good sign in terms of economic stability. A salary hike in public companies would pose a direct and indirect cost for the budget and public debt, seeing that it would probably raise the need for subsidies and government guarantees for loans those companies would ask for, Lissovolik noted.