BELGRADE, July 27, 2005

• AGREEMENT SIGNED FOR SECURITY REASONS
• DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS WEAPONS DEAL REACHED WITH U.S. BUYER
• ALL SCG AND SOME INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICES LOOKING FOR MLADIC
• CROATIA FAILS TO SUBMIT LIST TO SERBIAN MINISTRIES, PROSECUTOR

• SERBIAN FIRMS' SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION AT NEW YORK FAIR

• SWISS FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT KOSOVO
• UNMIK REPRESENTATIVE ON RETURN TO KOSOVO

• VUJANOVIC RECEIVES GREEK AMBASSADOR TO SERBIA-MONTENEGRO
• GREECE APPRECIATES MONTENEGRO'S ASPIRATIONS TO JOIN EUROPE, PANAGOPOULOS
• REFERENDUM NOT TO BE DISCUSSED WITH SERBIA, SAYS MONTENEGRIN FOREIGN MINISTER
• VLAHOVIC SAYS MONTENEGRO'S INDEPENDENCE WILL NOT DESTABILIZE COUNTRY
• GOOD POSSIBILITIES FOR INVESTMENTS IN MONTENEGRO BY ISRAELI INVESTORS
• SORSA SAYS MONTENEGRO SHOULD OPEN UP FOR COMPETITION

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

BELGRADE, July 26 (B92) - Serbia-Montenegro Defense Minister Prvoslav Davinic said that the agreement with NATO was signed in order to protect the citizens of Serbia-Montenegro.

"The security of the citizens of Kosovo is the main reason we had for signing the agreement which allows NATO corridors of movement throughout Serbia-Montenegro. The political use of this agreement is that it brings us closer to Euro Atlantic integrations." Davinic told daily Vecernje Novosti.

"On NATO's side, this is a technical agreement, which it did not make with Serbia-Montenegro alone, but with all countries that are included in the Partnership for Peace and NATO. In our case, the agreement would help in an eventual security breech in the region, especially when looking at the Kosovo situation. This is a principle agreement, which allows us to regulate who can and cannot travel through our nation, but it is also a question of receiving immunity and payments from NATO officials who travel through our nation. There will be a certain procedure maintained for every transit of these troops, with precise times and status reports from the NATO officials and forces who will be escorted through the nation by officials of the Internal Affairs Ministry." Davinic said.

BELGRADE, July 26 (Beta) - Serbia-Montenegro Defense Minister Prvoslav Davinic has said that a weapons deal involving the sale of old semiautomatic rifles to a U.S. buyer through the Montenegrin JugoimportMont company will be completed over the next six months.

In an interview published in the July 26 edition of Vecernje Novosti, Davinic stressed that the U.S. buyer had deposited $1.5 million in advance to the company, adding that the sum had been transferred to the Fund for Army Reforms, and that the remainder would be paid in successive installments after each shipment.

Davinic said that the Podgoricabased company would keep the profits while the rest of the money would be paid to the army and added that there had been some discussion concerning the possibility of using a potion of the earnings to solve some of the army's needs through military companies in Montenegro.

He said that the ministry intended to ask for permission from the Supreme Defense Council to enable the Kragujevacbased Zastava company to sign a similar deal on the sale of old weapons stocks.

SARAJEVO, July 26 (Tanjug) - Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) National Council for Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) President Rasim Ljajic has said he does not know the whereabouts of ICTY war crimes indictee general Ratko Mladic, specifying that all SCG security sevrices are looking for him, assisted by certain foreign countries with which "information is exchanged almost daily".

Speaking in an interview for the Sarajevo daily Dnevni avaz, published in Tuesday, Ljajic described as absolutely irresponsible the "reports that someone is negotiating with Mladic or that he is in Serbia."

Ljajic said, based on reports from the ICTY that six or seven indictees who are still at large are probably in Serbia and Montenegro, while two or three of them are in Russia. "Dragan Zelenovic and Vlastimir Djordjevic are in Russia, but I cannot name the third person as yet," Ljajic said. Asked whether this person could be Mladic, Ljajic said he had at one point received unverified information from the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) that Mladic was in Russia, under the protection of that country's mafia, but that he had returned to these lands fearing that the mafia could sell him out for the five-million-dollar reward.

Ljajic said he had been told by ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte that she believed Zdravko Tolimir was in hiding together with Mladic.

BELGRADE, July 26 (Tanjug) - Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Human and Minority Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic said on Tuesday that the ministry has not yet received a list of 960 Serb nationals indicted for war crimes by the Croatian judiciary.

"I expect that the Croatian Justice Ministry will submit the list," Ljajic told Tanjug, noting that the SCG ambassador in Zagreb has not yet received the list either. The Serbian Justice Ministry and War Crimes Prosecutor have not yet received the list either.

BELGRADE, July 26 (Tanjug) - Sixteen Serbian firms took part in the Fancy Food Show in New York from July 10-12, presenting fruit, jams, juices, and confectionery, organic and other products in the Best of Serbia pavilion.

The show is one of world's leading specialty food fairs, officials told a news conference at the Media Center. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported the Serbian exhibitors' presentation at the show through its Serbia Enterprise Development Program (SEDP). Most of the companies returned from New York with contracts that will secure them a penetration into the US market, officials told reporters, adding that the firms also made numerous business contacts in the US.

Serbia produces high-quality food, SEDP export adviser Remer Lane said, adding that the SEDP is aiming to help create a recognizable Serbian brand.

GENEVE/ BELGRADE, July 26 (Beta) - Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline CalmyRey will arrive in Kosovo on July 29 for a threeday visit to the province, the Swiss Foreign Ministry announced on July 26.

CalmyRey will meet with Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova and Premier Bajram Kosumi.

In May, Swiss representative in the U.N. Peter Maurer said the country endorsed Kosovo's "formal independence." Maurer said that it was neither desirable nor realistic to expect the province to return under Serbia's wing.

In an interview conducted by the July 26 editions of the Swiss 24 Heures and Tribune de Geneve, CalmyRey stressed that "it is time to take a look at the roads to formal independence" for the province which has been under U.N. control since 1999.

In a later reaction, CalmyRey admitted that her statement may have been rash, adding, however, that she thought that, at times, it was necessary to speak up and say what everybody was thinking as opposed to what they were saying.

CalmyRey recalled that over 150,000 people from Kosovo were living in Switzerland and that "instability in the region (Kosovo) undoubtedly affects Switzerland."

KRALJEVO, July 26 (Tanjug) - Director of the UNMIK Office for Returns and Communities Kilian Kleinschmidt said in Kraljevo on Tuesday that more than 20 million euros were currently lacking for the projects of IDP return.

He stressed that he was surprised by the situation and numerous unresolved issues he had faced when he joined the mission in Kosovo, but that he hoped that things would get better. Kleinschmidt announced an international donor conference in October, when funds for reconstruction and IDP return would be collected. It is good that the number of requests for return is increasing, but the way in which projects are developing is insufficiently effective, he said and added that a speedy mechanism had to be secured. Organs of power in Kosovo should be responsible for that and, to a much greater extent than now, organs of power on the municipal level, Kleinschmidt said. He recalled that numerous donors had given up their further involvement following developments of March 17, 2004.

PODGORICA, July 26 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic and newly appointed Greek Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Christos Panagopoulos on Tuesday voiced their satisfaction with bilateral relations and stressed that the already good economic relations made room for improvement in all areas.

Vujanovic informed Panagopoulos in detail about the situation in Montenegro and plans regarding state and legal relations, the Montenegrin President's Office said in a statement.

PODGORICA, July 27 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on Tuesday informed newly appointed Greek Ambassador in Belgrade Christos Panagopoulos that the foreign policy priorities of Montenegro are to join European integration processes, the negotiations on stabilization and association, and membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace.

Djukanovic conveyed to the ambassador Montenegro's resolve to restore its statehood and acquire the status of an international-legal subject in a process based on recognized international practice and the valid European standards. He said the best model for the relations between the two states of the state union would be an alliance of sovereign and internationally recognized states, about which he said a proposal had been sent to the partners in Serbia.

Greece highly appreciates Montenegro's efforts to achieve institutional reforms and it supports the aspirations of Western Balkan countries to join Europe and Euro-Atlantic structures, primarily for geopolitical reasons, as its link with the central part of Europe, Ambassador Panagopoulos said.

PODGORICA, July 26 (Beta) - Montenegrin Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said on July 26 that Montenegro had no intention of negotiating its independence referendum with Serbia, explaining that the matter was not under Serbia's jurisdiction.

Speaking to the press, Vlahovic said that "lately, there has been growing interest for the formation of an alliance of independent states" in the European Union.

Vlahovic added he believed that "the Serbian authorities' rejection of an alliance of independent states is not their final stand." In his words, Montenegro's proposal for the formation of an alliance would be an open issue for Serbia until the referendum.

Commenting on the announced war reparations agreement with Croatia, Vlahovic said that EUR400,000 "is not enough," but added that it represented a continuation of good neighborly relations. Under the war reparations deal, due to be signed on July 27, Montenegro is to compensate for the livestock that were killed in the Dubrovnik region during combat operations in the early 1990s.

Vlahovic further stated that Montenegro's strategic goal was to join the NATO Partnership for Peace program. In his words, Montenegro "is suffering the consequences" of Serbia's lack of cooperation with the Hague tribunal, explaining that Montenegro should have already been admitted to the organization.

BELGRADE, July 27 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said on Tuesday that a referendum and a possible positive decision on Montenegro's independence would not destabilize the country or deter foreign investors from investing in Serbia and Montenegro.

Participating in the work of the Israeli Business Forum at Belgrade's Hyatt Regency Hotel, Vlahovic underscored that Montenegro wants to participate in the Euro-Atlantic integration processes as an independent state, because it believes that is its interest.

BELGRADE, July 27 (Tanjug) - Participating in the work of the Israeli Business Forum at Belgrade's Hyatt Regency Hotel on Tuesday, meeting host, Israeli Ambassador in Belgrade Yaffa Ben-Ari pointed out that there were good possibilities in Montenegro for Israeli investors to place their investments.

Israeli investors are primarily interested in Montenegro's tourism industry, but also other areas, the ambassador said.

Director Petar Ivanovic of the Montenegrin Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Investments and Podgorica Mayor Miomir Mugosa presented the possibilities and terms for placing investments in Montenegro to the participants in the meeting.

Israeli companies that do business in Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) have already invested their capital in the areas of real estate, telecommunications, agritechnology, and the food industry. About 80 Israeli companies are currently actively engaged in the SCG. The value of the foreign trade exchange between Israel and the SCG in 2004 stood at 35.9 million dollars, and it is on a constant upward trend, it was heard.

PODGORICA, July 27 (Tanjug) - Representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday called on the Montenegrin leadership to continue with the economic development of the republic as planned, but pointed out that the milieu for creating competitiveness was at a level that gave cause for concern.

IMF Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Mission head Pirita Sorsa and IMF SCG Permanent Representative Harald Hirschhofer said the Montenegrin authorities should undertake resolute steps in the area of improving competitiveness in the economy.

Addressing a press conference following a meeting with Montenegrin officials, Sorsa and Hirschhofer said that Montenegro should continue implementing a firm fiscal policy if it wanted to create confiditions for tenable development. Sorsa said the analyzed factors indicated modest but constant economic growth, and that an improvement in the current account deficit was imminent, even though it would remain at an untenably high level for Montenegro. Current expenditures should be cut down and room should be made for capital spending, the public service reform should be stepped up and the number of employees in the public sector reduced, she said, and the funds secured through privatization should be used for resolving priority issues.