Belgrade, April 22, 2010

SERBIA - REGION

JEREMIC: TURKEY IS SERBIA'S MAJOR REGIONAL PARTNER
BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Wednesday referring to the visit of Turkish Foreign Ministers Ahmet Davutoglu to Belgrade that Turkey is Serbia's major regional partner. Any country with such a great influence in the region should be a party in the process of talks and consultations, he told B92 TV.
Anyone with a vision of a stable, prosperous Balkans integrated fully in the European Union, is welcome as Serbia's partner, he said. Jeremic emphasized that Kosovo cannot be represented as an independent state at any international conference in which Serbia takes part. This will be the case in Sarajevo too, where no statehood attributes can be given, implicitly or explicitly, to Kosovo, Jeremic said. Serbia has not changed its stand on preserving its sovereignty and territorial integrity and its policy in this regard will remain the same, he added.

DACIC: REGIONAL COOPERATION IMPORTANT FOR ANNULMENT OF VISAS
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on April 21 that the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) has boosted cooperation between the countries of the region, which is important for the successful completion of the visa liberalization process, says a news release posted on the Interior Ministry website.
"MARRI has greatly contributed to regional cooperation, primarily in the countries of the region. There are many problems related to the issues of refugees, displaced persons, human trafficking, asylum, and various sorts of migration," said Dacic, who is attending the MARRI conference in the Montenegrin town of Becici. The minister announced the signing of a memorandum of consular protection at the conference, and added that the Serbian Interior Ministry has proposed an agreement on the exchange of data on people seeking asylum in MARRI member countries. “We believe that to be of great importance for the successful finalization of the visa liberalization process," he said.
Participants in the conference said it would be very positive if agreement is reached in the Western Balkans on, as Dacic put it, “easier communication between people and visafree travel, aimed at creating the kind of unity that might have once existed."
The members of MARRI based in Skopje, Macedonia are Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Albania. Montenegro on April 21 ceded the rotating presidency to Albania, while Serbia will take it over next year.

MINORS FROM SERBIA, MONTENEGRO DO NOT NEED PASSPORTS
BELGRADE/BECICI, April 21 (Tanjug) - Serbian and Montenegrin Interior Ministers Ivica Dacic and Ivan Brajovic agreed Wednesday that minors from the two countries will be able to travel across the common border without passports until October 1.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) forum underway in Becici. The ministers also conferred on cooperation between Serbian and Montenegrin police in the case of the Saric brothers drug gang.
The conference is also attended by interior ministers of Albania and Macedonia and officials from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The conference focuses on regional cooperation in the sectors of migration, asylum, border management, visas, consular cooperation, return of refugees, integration in the European Union and other topics.

KOSOR: BELGRADE-ZAGREB RELATIONS NOT THAT CRUCIAL FOR REGION
ZAGREB, April 21 (Tanjug) - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has said that good cooperation between Croatia and Serbia is very important, but estimated that the belief according to which the region's stability depends on the Belgrade-Zagreb relations is outdated and does not correspond to the new political, safety and industrial environment in this part of Europe.
"The actual policy must rest on truth and facts, and we are ready to establish communication and cooperation," Kosor said for the Zagreb-based weekly Globus. Kosor qualified as unacceptable the statement which Serbian President Boris Tadic made in a recent interview for the Wall Street Journal whereby he said that civil wars were fought in the region. "There was no civil war in Croatia; we were exposed to Milosevic's aggression, and the citizens of Dubrovnik and Vukovar could testify on that," Kosor said.
TIHIC: REGION'S FUTURE DOES NOT DEPEND ONLY ON SERB-CROAT RELATIONS
BELGRADE, April 22 (Tanjug) - The Western Balkans will not become a stable and true part of the EU, "where it belongs," without a clear definition of relations between Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, said Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Sulejman Tihic.
In an article in the Belgrade-based weekly NIN, he said that it is "not true" that the future of the region depends solely on the definition of relations between Serbs and Croats, that is, between Serbia and Croatia, although this is what the countries of the former Yugoslavia have believed over the past two decades. Interpreting the relations between Serbia and BiH, Tihic said that they are "at the lowest level since the Dayton Accord."
Noting that Serbian President Boris Tadic clearly indicated that the national interest of Serbia is a united Bosnia, Tihic said that relations between the two countries, therefore, should acquire a new dimension of progress. He qualified the adoption of the Declaration on Srebrenica by the Serbian parliament as "one of the most important steps towards normalization of relations between Bosnia and Serbia."

SERBIA

NATIONAL COUNCIL: COOPERATION WITH ICTY UNOBSTRUCTED
BELGRADE April 21 (Tanjug) - Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague qualified Wednesday the cooperation with the ICTY as unobstructed in respect of documentation submittal, access to archives of the state bodies, relieving witnesses of the obligation to keeping secret and other issues in the jurisdiction of the National Council.
At their Wednesday session, which was held ahead of the forthcoming visits of ICTY Secretary John Hocking and ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, the National Council discussed the information on the current number and level of realization of the requests presented by the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) and the defence teams before the court. It was stated that there are no unrealized requests for assistance filed either by the OTP or the defence teams of the indictees, the National Council said in a statement. It is necessary to keep the current level of cooperation with ICTY, the National Council concluded and added that together with other respective state organs, it will continue to take all necessary measures and activities so as to achieve that goal. The National Council has rendered decisions to file documentation and responses upon the numerous requests of the OTP and defence teams.

U.S. SENATE ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON SERBIA
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Tanjug) - The Senate of the United States has adopted a resolution congratulating the Republic of Serbia's application for European Union (EU) membership and urging the European Council to adopt in a timely manner a clear position on Serbia's qualifications as a candidate country.
"The Senate applauds the people of Serbia for furthering their commitment to democracy, free markets, tolerance, nondiscrimination, and the rule of law," reads the resolution, which was proposed by senators George Voinovich, John Kerry, Richard Lugar, Jeanne Shaheen and Benjamin Cardin.
The Senate recalled that the United States views the EU as a source of stabilization, security and prosperity for all of Europe and the world and therefore, encourages Brussels to remain actively engaged with all of the Western Balkans regarding their aspirations for European integration. Furthermore, the resolution points at the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which considered the EU's readiness to integrate Serbia to the fullest extent into the political and economic mainstream of Europe. The Senate also urges the Serbian government to intensify efforts to capture and transfer at-large indictees Goran Hadzic and Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and otherwise to fully cooperate with the ICTY.
The U.S. Senate underscored that a democratically elected government of Serbia has committed to resolving regional disagreements through diplomacy and the tenets of international law and added that it welcomes the decision of the democratically elected Serbian government to join the NATO Partnership for Peace Program in 2006. The Senate recognized the cooperation of the Serbian government with the U.S. government on issues such as democratization, anti-drug trafficking, anti-terrorism, human rights, regional cooperation and trade. The resolution also recalled that the year 2010 marks a full decade of efforts of the Serbian government to reintegrate Serbia into Europe and the global community which has been supported by the United States, including U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Belgrade.

KONUZIN DECORATES WORLD WAR TWO SOLDIERS
NIS, April 22 (Tanjug) - Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin presented medals of merit in Nis late Wednesday to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). The medals were awarded by a decree of the president of the Russian Federation.
Konuzin presented 14 medals to World War Two veterans, their descendants and family members, saying that the war laid the foundations of modern Europe. There are powers at work today that want to change the outcome of World War Two, that celebrate traitors and want to rehabilitate collaborators, Konuzin said at the ceremony held at the Nis City Hall. We must defend our victory together, Konuzin declared.

TERRAL SAYS FRANCE HAS FAITH IN SERBIAN JUDICIARY
French Ambassador to Serbia Jean François Terral said on April 21 that France has faith in the Serbian judiciary in the trial of the individuals charged with the murder of French soccer fan Brice Taton.
"I want justice to be served and the sentence to be appropriate for the crime committed," Terral told reporters at Justice Palace, before the beginning of the trial. The ambassador said he came to the trial because a French citizen is in question. “It is my duty to be here as an ambassador, because as an ambassador I also have consular duties that include the protection of French citizens. Besides, it is absolutely clear that this case is causing quite a stir and a great deal of interest in France and especially in the region," he added. Fan of the French soccer club Toulouse, Brice Taton, 28, was brutally beaten to death in downtown Belgrade before the Partizan Toulouse match on Sept. 17, 2009, and died 12 days later. A group of 14 individuals is on trial for his murder.

SERBIA – ECONOMY, FINANCE

GERMAN COMPANIES: SERBIA IS GOOD PLACE TO DO BUSINESS IN
BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - German companies operating in Serbia have very positively evaluated Serbia as a country for doing business in, and even 87 percent of them would be willing to re-invest in the country, President of the German Business Association in Belgrade Ernst Bode said Wednesday.
Presenting the results of the survey that the association conducted on the topic of business environment in Serbia, Bode told the press that they indicate a trend towards stabilization and improvement of almost all segments of business in Serbia. He said that about 91 percent of the German respondent companies assess their economic situation as positive, about 41 percent count on improving their economic position in the future, while half of all the enterprises think that in 2010 the situation will be the same as in 2009. Bode said that Serbia needs a more efficient reduction of bureaucracy, better public infrastructure, access to public procurement and subsidies, improvement of legal security and stronger fight against corruption, which would invite new investors from Germany, and make the activities of those already present more intense.
German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas said there is potential for expansion of economic cooperation between the two countries and recalled that Germany has invested about EUR 1.5 billion in Serbia so far. He said that despite the economic crisis, Germany is interested in investing in the country, since it is evident that Serbia is developing in a positive direction.

INVESTMENTS COULD GIVE MAJOR BOOST TO SERBIA'S FOOD OUTPUT
MALI LOSINJ, April 22 (Tanjug) - If Serbia invested around one billion euros in rural development and the whole region was declared an area without genetically-modified foods, Serbia's food output could reach EUR 7 billion in three years, expert advisor with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Branislav Gulan said Thursday. Serbia's food or agricultural exports in 2009 totaled USD 1.94 billion, while import reached USD 1.3 billion, Gulan reminded, adding that this branch of the economy recorded a USD 640 million trade surplus last year.
Gulan also noted that Serbia exports most of its food to former Yugoslavia and the CEFTA region. "Producing food without genetically-modified organisms is very important, since some 50 million or 10 percent of EU citizens say they want to consume such food," he said at the Second Croatian Congress on Rural Tourism, which attracted over 400 people from 11 countries to the town of Mali Losinj, located on the island of Losinj in the northern Adriatic.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

MINISTRY: ZAC CAMP STONING REPRESENTS ACT OF VANDALISM
BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - The Serbian Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija condemned Wednesday the stoning of the UNHCR camp housing Serb IDP returnees to Zac, a village in western Kosovo.
This act of vandalism is a direct effort to prevent the return of IDPs to their homes after a decade in exile, the ministry announced. The ministry called on the international community and the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo to use their mandate and stop the extremist violence against the people returning to Kosovo. According to the announcement, the ministry has constantly drawn the attention of KFOR and EULEX to extremist attempts at stopping the IDPs and refugees from returning to Kosovo. Therefore the ministry demands that the UN and its civilian and military representatives in Kosovo influence the provisional authorities there to prevent attacks on returnees, ensure basic security and enable an unobstructed return process.
The ministry advised the Zac returnees not to let any incidents and attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists deter them from the intention to stay on their land, adding that the Serbian government will provide them with any assistance so they could live on in their homes. The ministry also stresses that it is high time the proper conditions for IDPs' return were ensured after more than a decade since the end of the war in Kosovo, adding that there can be no more excuses.

STEVIC: NO SAFETY FOR KOSOVO SERBS
BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - State Secretary with the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Zvonimir Stevic said Wednesday meeting Swedish embassy Counsellor for Political Affairs Bjorn Linderfalk that there is practically no safety for Kosovo Serbs.
This is best demonstrated by the situation in the Zac village, where Serbs are being stoned daily in order to force them to leave, Stevic said. The talk focused on the situation in Serbia's southern province and the problems Serbs are facing every day, the ministry said in a release. Other topics were problems in power supply, restitution of usurped property, protection of Serb religious and cultural heritage, and security of Gazimestan, which was recently entrusted to the Kosovo police service, the release says.

KOSOVO GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS ATTACK ON SERB RETURNEES
PRISSTINA, April 21 (Tanjug) - The Kosovo government condemned Wednesday the stoning of Serbs who returned to the village of Zac near Istok, northwestern Kosovo. This is an intolerable cowardly act, the government said in a release.
The government urged municipal authorities to immediately take measures to guarantee safety to the returnees and take the attackers to justice. The Kosovo government is strongly committed to the process of sustainable return and intends to invest EUR 100,000 to that end in Zac, the release says.
Two camps with tents housing Serb returnees to Zac were stoned around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. The returnees told Tanjug they believe they were stoned by ethnic Albanians who protested their return several times in the past month. The stoning upset the 26 Serbs families, who are now thinking about returning to central Serbia.

BAN KI-MOON: GLOBAL SUPPORT VITAL FOR UN ROLE IN KOSOVO
NEW YORK, April 22 (Tanjug) - The continuing and global support for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) activities is of key importance, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report.
The continuing support for UNMIK activities by Pristina and by Belgrade, as well as by the Security Council and the broader international community, is of crucial importance, he writes in the report to the Council, in which he voices concern at possible increased tensions in northern Kosovo, it was publicized on the UN website.
"The strategic goal of UNMIK remains the promotion of security, stability and respect for human rights through engagement with all communities in Kosovo, as well as with Pristina and Belgrade and regional and international actors," Ban Ki-moon underlined in his report. "The longer-term stability and development of Kosovo and the region rests on a successful process of reconciliation between communities," he said, noting that the security situation remains relatively calm but fragile.

YVES DE KERMABON CALLS FOR CRIME CONFRONTATION
PRISTINA, April 22 (Tanjug) - EULEX Chief Yves de Kermabon on Wednesday called on Kosovo authorities to confront organized crime.
The mandate of EULEX is to monitor and guide the government of Kosovo in the area of the rule of law, said Kermabon at a regular meeting of the joint board for the rule of law in Kosovo. Kermabon also pointed out to the Kosovo institution that the aim is to develop an independent and multiethnic legal, police and customs system, without political influence.