Belgrade, 10. 10. 2007.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA – STATUS

• CONSULTATIONS ON KOSOVO HELD AT U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL
• STEINMEIER: BACKING AGREEMENT, BUT WORKING ON ALTERNATIVES
• NEGOTIATED SOLUTION BEST FOR EVERYONE, ISCHINGER
• DULIC: SUPPORT FOR NEGOTIATIONS ON KOSOVO
• NATO PA ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON KOSOVO TALKS
• KFOR COMMANDER EXPECTS DECISION ON KOSOVO IN JANUARY
• BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: KOSOVO STATUS NEEDS TO BE SETTLED
• KOSOVO PREMIER: INDEPENDENCE TO FOLLOW DAYS AFTER DEC. 10

• CABINET DISMISSES KOSOVO PLEDGE TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE
• TADIC OPENS MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE "ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE"
• KOSTUNICA: COOPERATION WITH GAZPROM IN SERBIA'S INTEREST
• JEREMIC PROCLAIMS EUROPEAN DAY AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
• DJELIC: BELGRADE READY FOR TALKS ON CITIZENSHIP
• DJELIC PRESENTS SERBIA'S GOALS TO EU COUNTRY AMBASSADORS
• SERBIAN ECONOMY MINISTER CONFERS WITH SIEMENS REPRESENTATIVE
• MINISTRY OF RELIGIONS DOES NOT OVERSEE PEACE, ORDER IN FIELD
• US AMBASSADOR TO BELGRADE HOSTS RAMADAN DINNER
• EDUCATION MINISTER, ITALIAN AMBASSADOR DISCUSS VISAS
• NACIONALNI STROJ - DARKEST IDEOLOGY, KOSTRES
• POCAR: SERBIA FAILS TO ARREST MLADIC

NEW YORK, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Closed consultations on Kosovo at the U.N. Security Council were concluded on Oct. 9. Reports by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UNMIK chief Joachim Rucker were presented at the meeting.

The representatives of the U.S. and Russia told journalists the consultations had gone well and reiterated their governments' stances on the process of resolving the status of Kosovo.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad said the best outcome would be for the two sides to reach an agreement, but pointed out that time was running out and that the Kosovo issue resolution should soon be drawn to a close.

He said the meeting had gone well, that Rucker's report and the forthcoming Nov. 17 elections in Kosovo had been discussed, and the next steps considered.

Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin urged the international community and Belgrade and Pristina to focus on an agreement, as any other solution would cause instability in Kosovo, the region and the world.

We believe an agreed on solution to be possible. The process had a good start, but the international community must focus on the sides to find a solution through negotiations, he said.

Rucker called on Kosovo Serbs to vote at the Nov. 17 elections in the province. After the presentation of his report on Kosovo and the report by Ban Ki Moon at the Security Council, Rucker stressed that it was important for Serbs from Kosovo to turn out for the vote.

BERLIN, Oct. 09 (Beta) - By all accounts, the German government no longer firmly believes in the necessity of a new U.N. Security Council resolution for the start of a European Union mission in Kosovo.

On Oct. 9, in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier did not give the usual clear response to the question whether the German government still believed a Security Council decision was a necessary condition for the EU mission in Kosovo.

The current situation allows for different scenarios, Steinmeier said, at the same time stressing that Germany is doing its best to reach a satisfactory solution to the future status of Kosovo within the negotiating process under the auspices of the Contact Group troika.

However, he said, work was being done toward finding alternatives, if needed, adding that legal issues would be resolved within that framework.

The hitherto German position, expounded on numerous occasions not only by Steinmeier, but by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, was that continuing international involvement in Kosovo, including an EU mission, was not possible without a U.N. decision.

One could hear it mentioned among Western diplomats in Berlin in the last weeks that West European capitals were working on a backup plan and that lawyers were already trying to find a formula for the Kosovo issue solution in case Serbs and ethnic Albanians fail to reach an agreement with the troika's mediation.

The intention is for the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1244 to be read in such a way as to enable the assembly in Pristina to declare independence and other countries to recognize it.

MOSCOW, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - EU representative in the negotiation troika Wolfgang Ischinger said on Tuesday that for Brussels a unilateral solution for the future Kosovo-Metohija status is not favorable and that a negotiated solution is better for everyone.

It will be better for everyone if the final solution came as a result of negotiations and not reached unilaterally, the German diplomat said in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant during his Monday visit to Moscow.

Asked whether the EU or some of its member states would recognize a unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence if no results are achieved by December 10 (when the negotiation troika is due to submit a report on the negotiations), Ischinger responded that the EU's goal is to reach a compromise solution, which is incomparably better for everyone - for Serbia, Kosovo, as well as for the region.

We are doing all we can so that it would be so, said Ischinger, adding that he is confident that the EU will remain united after December 10, regardless of the outcome of the talks, and regardless of whether any results are achieved.

GENEVA, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - Serbian Assembly President Oliver Dulic said in Geneva on Tuesday in Geneva, where an Assembly of the Interparliamentary Union (IPU) is being held, that all states were trying to give their support to Serbia for a final status of Kosovo and Metohija to be reached by way of agreement and negotiations of the two sides.

Summing up the content of bilateral talks, Dulic, who is heading the Serbian delegation in the IPU Assembly, in a telephone statement to Tanjug said that all collocutors were urging that the final solution to the status of Kosovo and Metohija "be acceptable to all the sides." Dulic underscored that a possible unilateral recognition of the independence of Kosovo would be very bad, a precedent, a violation of international legal norms and would most probably cause various upheavals in parts of the world where there are similar problems, particularly in parts of Asia, Africa and Europe.

"In all the delegations there is probably a fear that such a precedent would lead to different reactions of minority national communities that are also demanding independence from states who are members of the United Nations," Dulic said, and pointed out that our delegation had conveyed the official positions of Serbia.

REYKJAVIK, BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - The NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted at its session in Reykjavik a resolution asking the governments and parliaments of member-states to support the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, member of the Serbian parliament delegation Dragan Sormaz said.

The resolution asks the governments and parliaments of NATO member-states to support the Contact Group Troika in its endeavors to find a solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija by consensus, he told Tanjug from Reykjavik. Describing the resolution as very favorable for Serbia, he said that its provision that a solution will be found through a UN Security Council decision came as a surprise, but that none opposed it at the session. This practically means that the NATO PA admits that the only legal and true solution can be found within the UN SC, Sormaz noted.

The resolution also sets out what the NATO PA expects from the governments, parliaments and political institutions in Kosovo-Metohija and Serbia - full contribution and good will in resolving the status of Kosovo-Metohija and refraining from any moves that might raise tensions in the region, he said.

He explained that the document omits the definition of Serbs as an ethnic minority in Kosovo-Metohija or the view that the UN SC Resolution 1244 should be replaced. The session was attended by representatives of 47 states - 27 NATO members and 20 non-members such as Serbia. Serbia's permanent parliamentary delegation to the NATO PA attended its 53rd annual session in Reykjavik as an associate member.

PRISTINA, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - KFOR Commander French General Xavier Bout de Marnhac said Tuesday in Gnjilane that he expects a decision on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija to be taken in mid-January.

Kosovo should not expect any significant decision. A decision on status will not be taken on December 10, as that is only the date for completing the talks, and Kosovo leaders know this but should tell the people too, he said. KFOR will secure peace and safety in the status process and forthcoming local and parliamentary elections in Kosovo, he noted.

LONDON, Oct. 09 (Beta) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said at an Oct. 9 meeting with Kosovo's negotiating team in London that both sides involved in the Kosovo talks need to be prepared to compromise at the negotiating table.

A statement from the British Foreign Office quoted Miliband as saying that Kosovo's status has to be resolved, adding that it is key to stability in the Western Balkans and that leadership and vision are needed from both sides. He also welcomed the opportunity to meet with Kosovo's representatives.

Additionally, Miliband emphasized that both sides need to adopt an approach based on creativity, courage, and compromise, as well as keep step with the international community and avoid provocations.

The British foreign secretary added that he hopes the negotiating troika will broker an agreement, adding that if that does not happen, the Ahtisaari plan will be the best way forward.

He also emphasized that steps need to be taken to establish Kosovo's status once the troika announces its conclusions on Dec. 10.

LONDON, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Kosovo intends to declare independence several days after the deadline for the conclusion of the ongoing status talks unless international mediators can arrange a deal on the province's status, Kosovo Albanian negotiators announced in London on Oct. 9.

Kosovo Premier Agim Ceku said that has to happen soon after Dec. 10, when the talks are scheduled to end, adding that will be in a matter of days, not weeks, after the deadline.

Speaking at a news conference at the British Foreign Office, Ceku called for international support but also stressed that Kosovo plans to proceed irrespective of whether the EU backs the move.

He added that Kosovo would like to have the support of the entire EU, but is not prepared to wait until the EU countries can reach agreement on Kosovo's independence.

Asked if Kosovo will become independent by the beginning of 2008, Ceku said he will try to make sure that happens considerably before that date.

The Kosovo Albanian negotiating team previously met with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who urged both Serbia and Kosovo to strive to achieve a compromise in the status talks.

BELGRADE, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Statements in which Kosovo Albanian officials have pledged to declare independence unilaterally are an open threat and undermine the negotiating process between Belgrade and Pristina, sources from the Office of the Prime Minister told BETA on Oct. 9.

"Belgrade has several times called on the international community and the mediating troika to send a clear warning condemning and rejecting any unilateral declaration of independence," they added.

While visiting London, Kosovo Albanian negotiators said the province will declare independence days after the Dec. 10 deadline for a solution to the status issue unless international mediators can arrange a deal between the two sides.

"Unilateral independence is illegal separatism and a direct violation of international law. Serbia will immediately strike down any unilateral decision that violates its territorial integrity and constitution. Any state recognizing a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo would be subverting the national interests of Serbia and that would be a de facto attempt to use violence to force a solution onto Serbia. It is perfectly clear that a solution cannot be imposed on Serbia, which means that a unilateral declaration of independence is impossible," representatives of the prime minister concluded.

BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Wednesday that the issue of human environment protection should be treated as a matter of key political importance for the development of democracy and protection of human rights, one, which had a direct influence on the stability of every country.

While opening the Sixth Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe," Tadic said that over the past seven years, our country had made considerable effort to get closer to the European Union, a plan, as he put it, in which human environment protection had a very important role.

The Sixth Ministerial Conference, which is expected to be attended by over 50 state delegations at the ministerial level, will be closed on October 12.It is expected that at the gathering, Belgrade and Serbia will be proclaimed as the headquarters of the Regional Center for Climate Change Assessment, which will give our country a leading position in the region, as far as this field is concerned.

BELGRADE, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Oct. 9, in Belgrade, that it was in Serbia's interest to establish strategic cooperation with the Russian Gazprom oil and natural gas company, one of the biggest energy corporations in the world.

Kostunica said this in talks with Alexei Miller, deputy head of Gazprom's board of directors, the Serbian government announced.

The importance of the memorandum on understanding, which Serbia signed with Gazprom last year and which envisages the construction of a gas pipeline through Serbia, was underlined at the meeting.

Topics included projects for developing the energy sector in Serbia. The two collocutors pointed out that Serbia had the potential to become the regional leader in the energy sector, and arranged to hold regular meetings in the future, in order to expand energy cooperation, the announcement said.

Serbian Mining and Energy Minister Aleksandar Popovic and Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Alexeev also took part at the meeting.

A Gazprom delegation visited Serbia on Oct. 9. After meetings with Kostunica and Serbian President Boris Tadic, the company issued a press release saying special attention had been given to the prospects of implementing big investment projects in the country.

The Gazprom representatives told Serbian officials that the company was considering participation in the privatization of the Oil Industry of Serbia, the development of a gas transport system within the South Stream project and the possibilities of underground natural gas storage as a complex project.

LISBON, Oct. 09 (Beta) - On behalf of the Council of Europe, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Oct. 9, in Lisbon, proclaimed Oct. 10 as the European Day against the Death Penalty, to be marked every year.

By proclaiming this day we confirm our devotion to the great idea of Europe, and to the values, which bring us together, Jeremic said, as the chair of the Council of Europe Ministers' Committee, at an international conference titled "Europe against the Death Penalty" held in Lisbon.

The conference was organized by the Council of Europe, Portugal currently chairing the EU, and the European Commission.

The European Day against the Death Penalty is a strong political and symbolic signal to the world that Europe supports fundamental human rights. We hereby affirm Europe as a death penalty free zone, Serbia's foreign minister said.

Stressing that capital punishment served only to gratify the basest of instincts, Jeremic quoted the Council of Europe slogan that "death is not justice" and that it only perpetuates the cycle of violence.

Although the death penalty has practically been abolished in Europe, it is still enforced in other parts of the world, Jeremic said. He voiced the hope that the European Day against the Death Penalty would serve as a foundation to abolish capital punishment throughout the world.

Jeremic added that Serbia supported the initiative to request a moratorium on the death penalty in the entire world with a U.N. General Assembly resolution.

PODGORICA, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic has stated that Serbia is ready to start talks on dual citizenship with Montenegro. "Serbia is absolutely ready to start talks, because that issue also has to be solved on the inter-state level if we wish to have a valid solution on possible dual citizenship," Djelic said in an interview published by the Podgorica daily Vijesti.

On the occasion of the request by Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic to have the Council of Europe mediate between Serbia and Montenegro, Djelic said that "internationalization of some of our bilateral relations is not good."

He underscored that even before the adoption of the Law on citizenship Belgrade intended to offer Montenegro a bilateral agreement on possible dual citizenship, but that the Montenegrin authorities believed that inter-state agreements should be considered only after the adoption of the constitution and a law on citizenship.

Djelic stated that the Serbian parliament had endorsed a law under which all those who feel that they are Serbs, and even the Serbs from Montenegro, should gain the Serbian citizenship, taking into consideration the fact that between two and three million Serbs live in various parts of the globe. "We did not have in mind one particular country, not even Montenegro. Every initiative taken by Serbia should not be experienced as an ill intent or malicious damage," concluded Djelic.

BELGRADE, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic on Oct. 9 asked the ambassadors from European Union countries to Belgrade for active support in realizing the priorities of Serbia's European agenda.

The priorities Djelic mentioned included initialing and signing the stabilization and association agreement as soon as possible and the efficient application of the visa relaxation agreement, which should be ratified in the Serbian parliament by the end of the month, a press release from the Serbian government said.

The announcement further included the start of talks on inclusion on the White Schengen List and access to the Instrument for PreAccession Assistance (IPA) funds as Serbia's priorities.

Djelic reiterated Serbia's resolution to complete cooperation with the Hague tribunal by the end of the year.

BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic, and his associates, conferred in Munich on Tuesday with representative of the Siemens Board of Managers Heinrich Hiesinger about capital investments in the areas of the medical industry, the railways, and the reconstruction of plants of the Serbian Electric Power Company EPS.

The topic of the meeting was the expanding of the cooperation between Serbia and Germany in the area of the chemical industry, telecommunications, high technologies, energy and the food industry, the Ministry of Economy said in a statement.

On the second day of the real estate fair Expo Real 2007 in Munich, Dinkic held a presentation of the master plans for Lake Palic and Mt Stara Planina, and acquainted foreign investors with possibilities for investing in Serbian tourism. "Stara Planina is one of the most ambitious projects in southeastern Europe and the investors were surprised both at the quality of the project and the investment possibilities," Dinkic said.

Around 200 million euros are expected in private investments, he said, while the state will invest into the necessary infrastructure. "I am certain that this will be the first, but the most important step in setting into motion the serious development of tourism in Serbia. We now have half a billion dollars of income from tourism, and the objective is to realize an income of one billion dollars in several years," Dinkic underscored.

BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - The state will accept any organization of believers of the Islamic faith, and their conflicts at this moment are not within the competence of the Ministry of Religions, but of other bodies and politicians who are in charge of peace and order on the ground, said on Tuesday Minister of Religions Radomir Naumov.

Responding to a question put by a journalists at the Palace of Serbia, Naumov said the state recognized both Islamic communities, or both of their organizational forms, because in this country there is enough room for all Riyasets and Mesihats. According to him, for the state there is just one Islamic community, and its organizational forms are not within its scope of action. "Our concern is equality and full religious expression of confessions and faiths, and not of some organizations," Naumov said in conclusion.

NOVI PAZAR, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - US Ambassador to Belgrade Cameron Munter hosted Tuesday in Novi Pazar a traditional Ramadan dinner for representatives of religious, political and non-governmental organizations and Muslim community representatives.

Munter read a message by US President George Bush, who said that the US wants to build stronger bridges with the Muslim community and hopes it will achieve unity. Munter noted that Serbia will face many challenges in the coming period and promised that the US, as its friend, will do everything to help. The Serbian Islamic Community Mufti Muamer Zukorlic said that the Muslim month of fasting symbolizes the discipline of body and spirit and the striving for order and harmony.

Disorder in the heart and the head means disorder in the family and the society, and that in turn leads to violence, which is evil for all, he said. The dinner was attended by representatives of the List for Sandzak headed by Sulejman Ugljanin, Sandzak Democratic Party headed by Rasim Ljajic and other Bosniak political parties and Novi Pazar, Sjenica and Tutin self-government institutions. The newly elected Reis of Belgrade-based Serbian Islamic Community Adem Zilkic did not attend.

BELGRADE, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Education Minister Zoran Loncar and Italian Ambassador Alessandro Merola met on Oct. 9 to discuss ways to cut down on red tape in the issuing of Italian visas to Serbian elementary and high school students.

A statement from the Education Ministry said that Loncar and Merola concluded that it is important to make it possible for students to travel to Italy as scheduled, adding that cooperation between the Education Ministry and Italian Embassy should facilitate the process.

Loncar and Merola also touched on other forms of cooperation in education, an area addressed by an education cooperation treaty signed by the countries.

BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Tanjug) - Vojvodina Parliament Speaker Bojan Kostres said on Tuesday in a comment on the incident which was provoked by members of the Nacionalni Stroj (National Alignment) that the issue is about a neo-Nazi organization, which promotes "glorification of the darkest ideology in the history of humankind and revival of the darkest period of the 20th century."

In an interview with TV B92, Kostres recalled that Vojvodina and Serbia fought in World War II, during which the Nazis committed horrific crimes, on the anti-fascist side and suffered great losses. According to him, the Vojodina parliament renewed its 2005 initiative urging the prohibition of the organizations which were included in the police list of clero-fascist and neo-Nazi organizations, including the Nacionalni Stroj and Obraz.

He pointed out that the authorities in charge were urged to ban these organizations because Vojvodina is a multiethnic community very sensitive to neo-Nazism, which is a serious problem.

THE HAGUE, Oct. 09 (Beta) - Hague tribunal president Fausto Pocar informed the U.N. General Assembly that the Serbian authorities had failed to find and arrest Gen. Ratko Mladic in the past year, despite numerous assurances that they would do so.

The Serbian authorities have again failed to find and arrest Mladic, despite numerous assurances. When it comes to Radovan Karadzic, it seems that none is assuming responsibility for his disappearance from the radar of the responsible services, Pocar said in his report to the U.N. General Assembly, brought out on Oct. 9 at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Pocar will address the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 15, his spokesman Liam McDowell announced on Oct. 9, in The Hague.

The ICTY president stated that "Belgrade's cooperation was complicated" during the period from August 2006 to July 2007.

ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte on Oct. 9 told the BBC that she counted on pressure by the European Union on Serbia to arrest war crime fugitives, but would not indicate how she would rate Belgrade's cooperation with the international court.

Pressure must be exerted. Political pressure is crucial, both for Serbia and for Bosnia Herzegovina [as] both countries want to become EU member candidates. That must not be allowed until they turn over Karadzic, Mladic and other indictees. We need political pressure because that is the only thing they will respond to, Del Ponte said.

Del Ponte will publish a report on Belgrade's cooperation with ICTY on Oct. 15, when she is to meet with the foreign ministers of EU countries and European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in Luxembourg.