BELGRADE, August 4, 2004

• LJAJIC: NEGATIVE FEELINGS OF PUBLIC ARE NO REASON FOR NON COOPERATION WITH HAGUE

• ABOUT 30 CASES OF PEOPLE TRAFFKICKING REPORTED IN SERBIA SINCE APRIL 2003
• GOOD CHANCES OF FRUIT, VEGETABLE EXPORT FROM SERBIA-MONTENEGRO TO EU

• ANNAN:MINIMAL RETURN OF REFUGEES AFTER MARCH VIOLENCE
• OSCE SPOKESMAN SAYS NO EXTENSION OF KOSOVO ELECTIONS REGISTRATION DEADLINE
• OFFICIAL OF RETURN COALITION: SERBS SHOULD VOTE IN KOSOVO ELECTIONS

• VUJANOVIC:SCG ARMY NO THREAT TO MONTENEGRO
• VUJANOVIC EXPECTS OPPOSITION TO RETURN TO PARLIAMENT
• POLICE CHIEFS OF SEVEN STATES TO DISCUSS JOINT ANTI-TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN PODGORICA ON AUG 10

BELGRADE, August 3 (Beta)-The chairman of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, stated on Aug. 3 that negative feelings on the part of the public could not serve as an excuse for avoiding cooperation with the tribunal.

According to a survey ordered by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of Serbia-Montenegro, of which Ljajic is minister, a vast majority of Belgraders (76%) believe that the Hague tribunal is a political institution. On the other hand, a majority of them (51%) believe that it should be cooperated with. Ljajic said such results show that cooperation with the tribunal is being treated as a necessary evil and that the readiness to cooperate with it is being expressed only after the threat of sanctions. In spite of this, 36% believe that there should be no cooperation with the tribunal regardless of the sanctions.

"The survey confirms what we have been saying for a while now a large portion, if not the majority of the public, are against cooperation," Ljajic told BETA.

In his words, this makes a more intensive and speedier cooperation with the tribunal more difficult, because "one must take into consideration internal political stability." He said these results did not mean that cooperation would end, but that "all aspects of cooperation would be taken into consideration," and added that the public's opinion of the tribunal should be changed.

Ljajic said he presented the results of this survey to representatives of the tribunal. "The survey is also a message to the tribunal, which has to change its relation toward us in certain respects. The policy of pressure and threats only contributes to resistance to cooperation," he said.

BELGRADE, August 3 (Tanjug) - Since April 2003, when legislation against people trafficking was adopted in Serbia, about 30 cases have been reported, Serbian Ministry of the Interior border police inspector Mitar Djuraskovic said Tuesday. Serbia is no longer only a transit country for people trafficking, but also a place where victims are recruited and their destination, he told a press conference on the campaign against the trafficking of children and young people.

According to Djuraskovic, special police teams have been created to fight people trafficking, comprising officers from all police departments who might encounter such cases. Victims rarely come forward themselves, but are generally discovered in police actions, he said. In 2000 in Serbia, about 2,000 foreign nationals, mainly women, were registered as possible victims of people trafficking. By 2003, thanks to intensified police work, this number was reduced to 203, Djuraskovic said. The campaign against the trafficking of children was initiated six month ago by non-governmental organization Beosupport (Belgrade support to exploited children and young people), and the inter-governmental International Organization for Migrations. According to research carried out in Serbia by Beosupport among young people between the ages 16 and 26, the problem of people trafficking is generally defined as voluntary prostitution, while illegal labor and begging are rarely mentioned.

BELGRADE, August 3 (Beta)-The Serbian Chamber of Commerce's science and research center associate Vojislav Stankovic has said that the EU, if it wants to help Serbia-Montenegro, should not demand the reduction of additional customs duties in order to facilitate the sale of its export surpluses in Serbia-Montenegro.

Following statements that Brussels is on a daily basis pressuring the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture to urgently reduce customs and no customs measures for the protection of agricultural products exported to the EU, Stankovic told BETA that the process should be "carried out in phases."

He said that there are currently good conditions for the export of all sorts of fruit and vegetables and derived products from Serbia to the EU, especially sugar, which this year can be exported in quantities of between 80,000 and 120,000 tons. Stankovic also said that the current annual value of food exports from Serbia-Montenegro is around US$500 million, out of which 45 percent is exported to the EU market.

Assistant Serbian Minister of Agriculture Danilo Golubovic has told BETA that Serbian agriculture "will have a chance" if it conspicuously increases its competitiveness after the reduction of high subsidies in agriculture in EU countries. According to him, it is in Serbia's interest to keep protecting the meat and sugar industries and the farming of industrial plants.

NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Tanjug) - The constant lack of freedom of movement for members of minority groups in Kosovo, endangered security, and no access to public services, have resulted in the minimal return of persons who fled the area following the March violence, said a report by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, released late Tuesday. The report, sent to the UN Security Council for consideration on Thursday, Aug 5, says the March violence had been a severe blow to the peace process in the province, and that elementary rights, such as freedom of movement and security, have been fundamentally undermined. Nothing has been undertaken to resolve two priority issues - the Kosovo interim institutions still have not investigated or punished the organs of authority that participated in the violence through public statements or activities, nor have they issued a public condemnation of the media reports which had contributed to the violence, Annan said. Kosovo Prime Minister Bairam Rexhepi has said the government will not be able to meet these demands, the report said. Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov, who presides over the UN Security Council in August, said at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday that the Security Council was very concerned about Kosovo.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Aug 4 (Tanjug) - Thirty-one political subjects have registered for the parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija, set for Oct 23, including one Serb - the coalition Strength of Serbia-SPOT, spokesperson Bernard Vrban of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told Tanjug on Wednesday. Vrban said the deadline for registration of parties and coalitions for the provincial elections expired at 1100 hrs today, adding that any additional registration was highly unlikely. The deadline was extended once already for those who have not registered until today, he said, pointing out that he believed it would be difficult to realize any new registrations, since groups should be drawn next Thursday, Aug 12, to determine the order on the ballot, Vrban said.

JAGODINA, August 2 (Beta)-The whip of the Return coalition in the Kosovo assembly, Dragisa Krstovic, stated that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should vote in the October assembly elections in the province.

"The Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija urgently needs a clear stand from official Belgrade on the assembly elections in Kosovo," Krstovic told the Jagodina television station Palma Plus on the evening of Aug. 2.

He said "the final decision of Belgrade would have a decisive influence on the Serbs' decision on whether to vote."

PODGORICA, Aug 3 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic said on Tuesday that Montenegro "is not in any danger from" the Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) Army. However, Montenegro is not pleased with the number of SCG members in its territory or the Army reforms regarding the rationalization in the number of its employees, Vujanovic said. Speaking for Radio Montenegro, he said the Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) Supreme Defense Council (VSO) was functioning on a sound basis, and that he had only positive experience in cooperation with the members of this body who are from Serbia.

PODGORICA, Aug 3 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic on Tuesday welcomed the announcement by the Serbian People'sParty (SNS) that they would return to the Montenegrin parliament, and said he expected the other opposition parties would follow the SNS example. No good results can be achieved in the area of politics by extra-parliamentary action, Vujanovic said.

PODGORICA, Aug 3 (Tanjug) - The chiefs of police of Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and UNMIK will meet in Podgorica on Aug 10 to determine joint activities in curbing terrorism and fighting organized crime, and to discuss security for the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens. The meeting was initiated by Assistant Montenegrin Interior Minister in charge of public security Mico Orlandic and Albanian Director General of Police Bairam Ibray, who met in Podgorica on Monday to discuss joint action to prevent terrorist activities linked with the Olympics in Greece.