Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia: daily survey of 9 March 2009

REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

 LAVROV SAYS KOSOVO IS ONE OF MAIN DIFFERENCES BTW RUSSIA, US

SERBIA - SLOVENIA

CVETKOVIC AND PAHOR SIGN MEMORANDUM

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - The prime ministers of Serbia and Slovenia, Mirko Cvetkovic and Borut Pahor respectively, signed on Friday a Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments on technical cooperation in the field of European businesses. After the signing ceremony, Cvetkovic pointed out that Pahor’s visit had a symbolic meaning as well, since Serbia was the first country he had come to since his appointment to the post. Cvetkovic thanked Slovenia for the support it had been giving to Serbia’s European commitment and the country’s wish to join the white Schengen list as soon as possible. Pahor underlined that the fact that he had chosen Serbia as his first destination proved that Slovenia viewed the country as an important factor for the stability of the region. He expressed hope that with all the efforts the Serbian authorities and the European Union were making, Serbia would manage by the end of the year to fulfill all the conditions that were required for the liberalsation of the visa regime.

SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MEETS WITH SLOVENIAN PM

BELGRADE, March 7 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic on Friday met with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and discussed topical political issues in Serbia and Slovenia’s experiences on its path to the European Union. Pahor said that the consensus of all political parties had been the key point on this road, enabling a speedy adoption of a large number of laws. Dejanovic urged a stronger parliamentary cooperation between the two countries, the Serbian parliament said in a statement.

ZBOGAR - SLOVENIA SUPPORTS SERBIA’S PROGRESS TOWARDS EU

BELGRADE, March 8 (Tanjug) - Slovenia is a strong supporter of the progress of West Balkan states, including Serbia, towards the European Union, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar has said and added that the application for EU membership depended on the decision of each individual country, including Serbia. In an interview for the Sunday issue of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, he said that Slovenia wanted Serbia to start with the implementation of the provisional trade agreement during the Czech presidency this year and that the same applied to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. He said that the ratification of the SAA and taking of effect of the provisional trade agreement were in connection with a political decision of the EU member-states. "In the case of Serbia, this political decision is closely connected with full cooperation with the ICTY," he said. "There is no general opposition among the EU member-states to Serbia’s progress towards EU membership. Of course, we should be aware that Serbia went through an extremely difficult period last year. Serbia’s progress therefore deserves even more praise and is more visible. "Serbia has a government that is aware of its obligation in the context of EU integrations and obligations in the implementation of the reform process. You can be confident that the EU highly appreciates this," said Zbogar, who visited Belgrade on Friday.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION TO BE BOOSTED IN SPITE OF CRISIS

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - The prime ministers of Slovenia and Serbia, Mirko Cvetkovic and Borut Pahor respectively, pointed out on Friday, while addressing the participants of the Business Forum at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, that they had agreed the two governments would do all in their power so as to boost their trade and economic cooperation in spite of the approaching crisis. Cvetkovic pointed out that Slovenia was one of the most important partners in respect to Serbia’s European integration process and economic cooperation, and that with its investments amounting to 1.2 billion euros Slovenia was one of the top five investors in Serbia. The Serbian prime minister said that the government was preparing a number of measures for this year, which would help improve the business atmosphere and cut the burdensome regulations - smaller administration apparatus, possibility of delayed payments in privatisation process, free use of building sites in undeveloped municipalities. Slovenia’s Premier Borut Pahor pointed to his visit to Belgrade as being the first official visit of a Slovenian prime minister to Serbia, which, as he put it, opened a new chapter in the relations between the two countries in the field of politics, economy, culture and human relations. Pahor underlined that Slovenia would welcome the investments of Serbia’s companies into the country, and added that for the time being, efforts were being made to establish ties between the businessmen of the two countries and to open the door to friendship and successful relations between Slovenia and Serbia.

PAHOR SAYS SLOVENIA SUPPORTS SERBIA’S EU AMBITION

BELGRADE, March 7 (Tanjug) - Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said late on Friday that his country supported Serbia’s ambition to become an EU member and stressed that authorities in Ljubljana would do all in their power to help Serbia be included in the white Schengen list as soon as possible. "Slovenia supports the EU enlargement with the West Balkans and we wish that Serbia take the necessary steps as soon as possible in order to succeed in its goal," Pahor said after a meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic. Pahor voiced his satisfaction with the results of his visit to Belgrade, stressing that this meeting with Serbian officials marked the beginning of a new era in bilateral relations. Tadic said after the meeting that Serbia appreciated the presence of Slovenian businessmen on its market, but that it expected the same treatment for Serbian businessmen who wanted to be present on the Slovenian market.

SERBIA

JEREMIC MEETS WITH IRANIAN, SLOVENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Friday presented to the foreign ministers of Slovenia and Iran at separate meetings the main directions of Serbia’s foreign policy and stressed the Serbian government’s commitment to continued development of good bilateral relations. During the meetings with Samuel Zbogar and Manouchehr Mottaki, issues from the field of political and economic cooperation were reviewed as well as the possibility for the realisation of further common plans in these fields, the Serbian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Zbogar is in a visit to Belgrade within a Slovenian delegation headed by Borut Pahor and Mottaki heads an Iranian government delegation.

JEREMIC SAYS SERBIA KEEPS ITS STANDS

BELGRADE, March 7 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said late on Friday that technical talks on the implementation of the six item plan for Kosovo would continue until the UN Security Council session of March 23 and added that Serbia firmly maintained its previous stands. At the session, "we will inform the Security Council how far we have gone with the implementation of the plan and I hope that we will go as far as possible and that we will complete it," Jeremic told the Pink television. Speaking about the meetings in Belgrade on Friday with Foreign Ministers Samuel Zbogar of Slovenia and Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran, Jeremic said that he and his counterparts had spent a lot of time discussing economic cooperation, but that political issues had also been discussed. "I and the Slovenian foreign minister discussed the acceleration of Serbia’s EU integration process and liberalisation of the visa regime with the Schengen member-states, while the main topic with the Iranian counterpart was the continuation of our diplomatic efforts aimed at preserving Kosovo within Serbia," Jeremic said. He added that Iran was one of the countries which strongly supported Serbia in the fight for the preservation of sovereignty in Kosovo-Metohija, stressing that this support was extremely important in the Islamic world.

NEGOTIATIONS ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP CONTINUE

BELGRADE, march 6 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin Interior Minister Jusuf Kalamperovic said in Belgrade on Friday that Serbia and Montenegro would continue their negotiations on dual citizenship after the Montenegrin elections. "So, negotiations on the conclusion of this agreement have not failed, they will continue after the Montenegrin elections on March 29," Kalamperovic told Tanjug. This is a result of an agreement between Kalamperovic and Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, who participated at the 6th annual ministerial conference on border security cooperation in South-East Europe in the Serbian capital. "The Serbian minister and I used this conference to hold bilateral talks. We agreed on several things, including our overall cooperation, but we also agreed specifically on the continuation of negotiations on dual citizenship," Kalamperovic said. Speaking about bilateral relations, Kalamperovic said that they could and should be better.

SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MEETS WITH IRANIAN FM

BELGRADE, March 7 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic on Friday met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. It was noted during the meeting that the Serbian-Iranian bilateral relations were on the rise and that there was mutual interest in promoting them, particularly in the field of international parliamentary cooperation, the Serbian parliament said in a statement. It was also noted that in the international arena, the two countries urged the observation of international principles and standards and that they had similar stands on major international issues. The Iranian minister said that there were major possibilities for the economic cooperation between Iran and Serbia and stressed that Iran urged peace and stability in the Balkans and Middle East. Djukic-Dejanovic said that she appreciated Iran’s principled support to Serbia in the resolution of its most important internal political issue - preservation of Kosovo-Metohija.

DULIC - DECENTRALISED DECISION MAKING CONDUCIVE TO DEVELOPME

BELGRADE, March 7 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic said on Saturday that a decentralised decision-making system on some issues of implementation of the law and establishment of different institutions was a precondition of development and said that the Vojvodina Statute should be viewed from this point of view. Even now, owing to a debate on the proposed Vojvodina Statute, we have a growing number of demands for a decentralised system of decision-making on investments coming from Nis, Kragujevac and other future regional centers, Dulic told Tanjug. He said that there was still a centralist force on the Serbian political scene, which describes every type of decentralisation as separatism.

EGERESSY SAYS VOJVODINA WILL SURVIVE WITHOUT STATUTE

NOVI SAD, March 7 (Tanjug) - Vojvodina parliament speaker Sandor Egeressy has said that the provincial administration wanted to define Vojvodina in accordance with constitutional solutions, but that it will survive even without the statute. "Vojvodina will survive with and without the statute. Different games can be played regarding this act, but Vojvodina will be Vojvodina even without the statute," he said for the Saturday issue of the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik in an interview. He said that it was impermissible that the provincial authorities had for months been exposed to the worst accusations that they were separatists and trying to create a state within a state.

SERBIA, IRAN DISCUSS PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Friday met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and discussed the promotion of economic cooperation and creation of possibilities for stepping up bilateral foreign trade. A Serbian government statement said that Iran’s participation in the Serbian petrochemical industry had been discussed during the meeting. It was noted that there were great possibilities for increasing economic cooperation that would be made concrete at the level of the mixed committee on economic, commercial and technical cooperation, the statement said.

MINISTERIAL DECLARATION ON BORDER COOPEATION SIGNED

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - The participants of an annual ministerial conference on border cooperation in South East Europe, which is under way in Belgrade, signed on Friday a Declaration in which they express readiness to fulfill the required standards for joining the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. The ministers underlined that border security, as one of the crucial conditions for full-fledged EU membership, was of vital importance for the citizens. The Declaration also points to the fact that the progress which has been made so far in terms of border security in the South East Europe region leads to visa liberalisation, and eventually to a full abolishment of visas. The ministers backed the setting up of a joint coordination centre, which will enable a better cooperation between national border services. The document says that some of the goals that have to be fulfilled by 2012 include adjustment to European legal standards regarding border security and a better harmonisation of border checking and surveillance with the provisions of the Schengen Aagreement. The Declaration was signed by the interior ministers of Serbia Ivica Dacic, Montenegro Jusuf Kalamperovic, of Bosnia-Herzegovina Tarik Sadovic, Macedonia Gordana Jankuloska and of Albania Bjar Nishani.

NATIONAL PLAN TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

BELGRADE, March 08 (Beta) - The Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic on March 8 announced that a National Plan to combat human trafficking will be adopted within a month, and that it will contain all the activities undertaken by state bodies in that area. After the session of the Committee to Combat Human Trafficking in Palace Serbia, Dacic told the press that the government wants to tackle the problem in a serious manner, adding that it is also one of the most important commitments in the process of European integrations. Dacic said that 48 victims of human trafficking were registered in 2008, but that the number must be higher, since there is always a number of unregistered cases. According to him, even though in the previous period the victims were mostly foreign women, there are now more victims from Serbia. He stated that 41 out of 48 victims were from Serbia, and that 39 of them were women. Dacic added that human trafficking does not only imply sexual but also labor exploitation, as well as forced marriage and a variety of felonies. He also stated that the Committee members agreed to make October the month of the fight against human trafficking, as the European Commission proclaimed Oct. 18 as the day of the fight against that type of crime.

SERBIA SHOULD MAKE KEY STEP ON ITS WAY TO EU

BELGRADE, Mar 9 (Tanjug) - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has stated that everything is ready for acceleration of Serbia’s European integrations, but that Belgrade should make a key step. In his interview with the RTS, Minister Schwarzenberg, whose country is currently holding the Presidency of the EU, said that everything would be blocked until ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz announces that Serbia is fully cooperating with the ICTY. We are doing a lot at the technical side, but for as long as there is no full cooperation, we cannot do anything, although we are Serbia’s big friends, underscored the Czech minister, adding that Serbia will be able to start heading towards the Union when The Hague condition gets fulfilled. According to him, the Stabilization and Association Agreement is ready and it may go into effect immediately, but this depends on Serbia. "We are also preparing the visa regime and I believe that it will soon start. There are still some minor problems. You would be astonished at how well the Union is prepared for Serbia, to welcome it," said Minister Schwarzenberg said.

SERBS FROM UK WANT TO RETURN TO SERBIA

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - Thirty percent of Serbs who live in Great Britain want to return to Serbia, representatives of the Serbian City Club said during a meeting with Serbian Minister for the Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic on Friday. The Club, which rallies about 600 members, Serbs with different university degrees aged between 25 and 45, deals especially with the return of young people to Serbia, it was said during the meeting at the Ministry. The Ministry for the Diaspora announced intensive cooperation and assistance to young people who wished to use their knowledge in Serbia.

BELARUS PRESIDENT: SERBS, RESOLVE PROBLEMS ON YOUR OWN

NIS, March 06 (Beta) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on March 6 sent a message to Serbian citizens saying that they should not expect others to solve their problems, but instead, should cope with them on their own. “If you hope that people will come from abroad, from Europe, you should abandon that hope. Do not expect a solution from abroad, but from those you yourselves elected,” Lukashenko told the press at Nis airport, after spending a holiday in Kopaonik. He said that the unemployment rate is one percent in his country, while it was 50 percent when he came into power. “The formula is very simple from mayor to president, everyone should engage in the creating of new jobs and boosting the economy. If we can help, we will,” he said. Lukashenko said that it was not easy for Belarus to implement all the reforms, “considering the position previously occupied by the EU and now by the U.S.” towards the country. “One of the reasons for such a stand towards us was my position regarding Kosovo’s independence and attitude during the (NATO) bombing,” Lukashenko stated. He added that the country’s stand regarding South Ossetia and Abhasia’s independence is already known, but that he will wait for the parliament’s decision. “We have a new parliament, and they will make the decision, and I will not give them any suggestions,” Lukashenko answered, when asked about the independence of the two provinces after their separation from Georgia. Lukashenko said that, together with Serbian officials and businessmen, he has arranged a work group to be formed, composed of 10 to 15 businessmen who will work on specific economic projects.

SERBIA – ECONOMY, FINANCE

TADIC ENCOURAGES INTEL TO START PRODUCTION IN SERBIA

BELGRADE, March 06 (Beta) - Serbian President Boris Tadic proposed on March 6 to the President of the Intel Board of Directors, Craig Barrett, that the company begin production in Serbia. According to a statement from the President’s press service, Tadic and Barrett also talked about the possibilities of technological development and solving challenges imposed by the world economic crisis. Tadic and Barrett, who heads the world’s largest company for the production of microprocessors and computer parts, agreed that Serbia has a good opportunity of being part of Intel’s world development program through a program for supporting the education of young people. Intel opened a regional office in Belgrade in November 2007. The corporation had a profit last year of USD5.3 billion, which was 24 percent less than in 2007, according to the company’s website www.intc.com.

DJELIC - SERBIA TO COMPLETE TALKS WITH IMF UNTIL APRIL 26

BELGRADE, March 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic on Sunday voiced his expectation that negotiations on a new arrangement between Serbia and the IMF would be completed by April 26, when the IMF and World Bank would hold the spring session in Washington. In an interview for the Belgrade daily Press, he said that the new arrangement would include about two billion dollars of support to Serbia and that the government would hold a meeting on March 13, preparing a single platform ahead of the IMF Mission’s arrival on March 16. Djelic said that Serbia had not even taken the 400 million euros it had already agreed on with the IMF. "In November 2008, we concluded the arrangement as the first country in the region. We did not need the money at the time and we still don’t. Still, in view of the situation since the beginning of the year, it is time for a full arrangement with the IMF, partly because this will give us a better opportunity to defend the dinar," Djelic said. "Also, the agreement with the IMF is a precondition for the European Commission and World Bank support to our budget," he said.

GRAY - SERBIA TO RECEIVE 50 MILLION DOLLAR LOAN

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - The Board of Directors of the World Bank has approved a 50 million dollar loan to Serbia, the first in a series of loans of support to the Serbian budget, head of the WB Belgrade Office Simon Gray said on Friday. This is very important at the time of crisis, because it marks the continuation of reforms, Gray told reporters and added that this was a form of support to the Serbian government, which has so far started to realise different measures aimed at implementing reforms in the sector of finance and other parts of the economy. The WB loan is largely intended for the improvement of the business climate, which deteriorated in the past six or seven months, Gray said and added that the more Serbia attracted foreign capital, the more they would invest and open new jobs.

SERBIA MUST USE GEOGRAPHY TO IMPROVE ECONOMY

BELGRADE, March 06 (Beta) - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic stated on March 6 that Serbia has yet to use the advantages of its geographic location for speeding up economic development, stating that it has just started taking advantage of it. The geographic position, which the World Bank recognized as one of the key determinants for the faster economic development of a country, has a very positive effect on Serbia’s perspective, Djelic said in Belgrade while presenting the World Bank’s 2009 Development Report Reshaping Economic Geography. He added that the economic crisis will slow the effects gained by the geographic position, as the goal market for Serbia, primarily the EU, is not working as effectively, but added that this potential should not be forgotten. He also said that the World Bank report shows that countries that have not taken advantage of their geographic position usually have great regional differences, as in the case of Serbia. Djelic stated that the participation of the gross domestic product of Belgrade, Vojvodina and Central Serbia is balanced with the total GDP of the country, but that a third of the national wealth is produced on 4.2 percent of its territory in Belgrade.

DULIC: 2009 - YEAR OF MAJOR INVESTMENTS IN "GREEN INDUSTRY"

BELGRADE, Mar 9 (Tanjug) - Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic on Monday stated that 2009 will be a year of major investments in "green industry" and of laying a foundation of a new environmental policy, which will imply assistance and subsidies by the state and a cleaner Serbia. By adopting a set of environmental laws, which will imply a different system of waste management and recycling, the Ministry will create thousands of new jobs in Serbia in the future, Dulic told Tanjug, underscoring that this will be the contribution of his department ministry to the fight against economic crisis. According to Dulic, a number of problems that emerge in Serbia today in the area of environmental protection are the result of the absence of a clear distribution of responsibilities, a clear policy on punishment and a clear procedure for the state organs to follow. "Those laws are also the main element of the European integration process ahead of us this year, which is very important," said Dulic, underscoring that about 30% of our obligations from the process of association are the laws and norms in the area of environmental protection.

SERBIA COULD MISS OUT ON NEW IMF ARRANGEMENT

BELGRADE, March 06 (Beta) - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Radovan Jelasic said on March 6 that Serbia could be left without a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if it does not decrease spending. "If the Serbian government’s budget rebalance does not increase the lack of funds in the state coffer without changing its structure towards decreasing expenditure for current spending, and if the sources for covering the deficit are left only to debts and income from privatization, Serbia could be left without a new arrangement with the IMF," Jelasic said. He stressed that he agrees with the stance of Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic that the fiscal policies could be more expansive, but not by having the budget deficit cover the burden of debts and the income from privatization, but the burden of accommodation. Jelasic said that this means a significant decrease in spending and a significant increase in investments. He added that the deficit in Serbia could decrease, "but only with the condition that its structure is improved, or that the current spending is cut."

FTA WITH IRAN PLANNED

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic said on Friday that a free trade agreement was planned to be signed with Iran, envisaging a considerable liberalisation of the foreign trade, which paves the way for stepping up mutual trade. After a meeting with a delegation of the Iranian government, headed by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, both sides agreed that the petrochemical complex, metalworking complex, food production and pharmaceutical industry were the sectors where the results of mutual cooperation could be achieved in the fastest possible way. Mottaki invited Serbian companies to take part in the construction and reconstruction of different infrastructure projects and transport corridors in his country.

REGIONAL PARLIAMENTS TO COOPERATE TO OVERCOME CRISIS

BELGRADE, March 6 (Tanjug) - Parliamentary cooperation among the countries of the region can give a significant contribution to the business environment in the overcoming of the global financial crisis, Serbian parliament speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic said on Friday. Speaking at the opening of a two-day international conference on the role of parliaments in encouraging competitiveness and economic growth in the West Balkans, she pointed at the importance of a dialogue between states and business representatives. A coordinated, united and solidary action of the countries of the region is a precondition for an easier way out of the crisis, the participants said. They said that this was largely hampered becasuse of the historical and economic heritage, but that the fight against the crisis on the national level was not possible. The regional conference on the role of parliament in the promotion of the business environment has rallied MPs from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

IN 2008 COOPERATION BECOMES STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

MOSCOW, March 7 (Tanjug) - The Serbian-Russian relations in 2008 were characterised by stable and positive dynamics, bilateral commercial and economic cooperation became a strategic partnership and the two countries’ efforts were closely coordinated on the international scene, primarily in the resolution of the Kosovo issue, it was said in the Russian document on foreign political and diplomatic activities in 2008. The 164-page document, posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website on Friday, said that an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the gas and oil sectors had been concluded in the presence of the two countries’ top leaderships in Moscow in January 2008. It also said that during Serbian President Boris Tadic’s visit to Russia in December, a joint declaration of the two heads of state was signed, reaffirming the sides’ mutual readiness to the realisation of appropriate energy projects, including the control package of shares in the Oil Industry of Serbia and construction of part of the South Stream gas pipeline and Banatski Dvor underground gas storage facility.

ITALY, SERBIA TO SIGN PROTOCOL ON ENERGY COOPERATION MONDAY

BELGRADE, March 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Petar Skundric and Italian Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola will sign a protocol on cooperation between the two ministries on Monday. The protocol defines cooperation in renewable energy sources, hydroelectric power industry, cooperation between the electricity transfer system operators and cooperation in the realisation of the pan-European oil pipeline project. These were the topics of the Skundric and Scajola talks at the Italian Ministry in Rome on February 5. A joint statement was signed in Rome and the ministers voiced their mutual interest in a further development of energy cooperation.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA – SITUATION, REACTIONS

KOSOVO AUTHORITIES CAUSE DISASTER, PRESSURISE SERBS

PRISTINA, March 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic said on Sunday that by cutting off the electricity supply to some Serb-populated villages in Kosovo, Kosovo authorities caused a humanitarian disaster and put unparallelled pressure on Kosovo Serbs to be integrated into their "quasi state." Several thousand Serbs in some villages near Obilic and Gnjilane have been without electricity for days and according to the Kosovo Electric Power Company (KEK) they were cut off because of unpaid bills and debts dating back to 1999. Bogdanovic told Tanjug that Serbs in the villages of Priluzje, Plemetina, Babin Most, Grace and Silovo had to throw away foodstuffs they had kept in freezers, that they did not have water, that medical examinations and elementary medical services at medical centres were threatened and that it was a question whether the students in the villages would have basic conditions for education. "This all shows that we are on the verge of a humanitarian disaster," Bogdanovic said and added that the Serbian government was doing its best to point out the problem and help Kosovo Serbs through competent international institutions. "Nobody among Kosovo-Metohija Serbs wants not to pay electricity bills, but this problem should be solved systematically in all of Kosovo and not partially from village to village and this in the areas where Serbs are a compact population. This is evidently a form of pressure on Serbs in the areas where they, despite all the hardship they went through in the past ten years, showed their determination to stay and live in Kosovo and that they do not want to sell and leave their property," Bogdanovic said.

IVANOVIC CONDEMNS USE OF FORCE DURING SERB PROTEST

GNJILANE, March 8 (Tanjug) - State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Oliver Ivanovic condemned in the strongest terms the use of force against Serbs in the village of Silovo near Gnjilane on Sunday, who had been without electricity for a week. In a statement to Tanjug, Ivanovic said that it was inhumane to put this type of political pressure on Serbs in Kosovsko Pomoravlje and added that what lay behind all this was an attempt to make the survival of the Serb community in the territory impossible. "This will threaten the school and local health care institutions. Conflicts of this kind can escalate," Ivanovic said. He stressed that those behind this type of political pressure should be aware of possible consequences. The solution is an agreement without the use of force, Ivanovic said. Kosovo police on Sunday intervened to prevent Silovo villagers from blocking the Gnjilane-Bujanovac road, which they wanted to do protesting against the fact that they had been without electricity for a week. At least ten people were injured on the occasion.

KOSOVO PREMIER READY TO RECEIVE SERBIAN PRESIDENT

PRISTINA, March 08 (Beta) -. Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci on March 8 stated that he is ready to receive Serbian President Boris Tadic in his office under the condition that he (Tadic) visits Kosovo institutions. All public figures have to respect laws when they enter or exit Kosovo, Thaci stated in the Media Center in Caglavica, at a forum on communities and the process of return, as an answer to a question whether he would issue an order prohibiting Tadic’s entrance into Kosovo. Explaining the details of an incident which occurred between Kosovo Police members and Deputy President of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija Rada Trajkovic at administrative crossing Merdare on March 6, Thaci said that he believes that she does not want to break the law. “On that occasion,” he said, Rada Trajkovic “was faced with respecting the law.” Asked why the Kosovo government has still not submitted the law on the return of the exiled and their property, as it was envisaged by Ahtisaari’s plan, Thaci said that the question of return was regulated by the constitution and not by a special law. The Kosovo premier said that his government aims to provide welfare for all communities in Kosovo, including the Serbian community, on which occasion he invited everyone to return and take part in the work of Kosovo institutions.

MOSCOW: OUR STAND ON KOSOVO IS BASED ON IMPERATIVES OF LAW

MOSCOW, March 6 (Tanjug) - Russia’s reaction to the last year’s unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence and its recognition by a certain number of countries is based on the country’s own national interests and the imperative that international law has to be observed, official Moscow stated on Friday. The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation for 2008, announced on the Foreign Ministry website, confirms the position that the declaration of independence represents a brutal violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia, the UN Charter, UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. The 164-page document points to the fact that Russia’s opposing the intentions of the United States and NATO to use fierce measures against Kosovo Serbs had helped avoid a destabilisation of the region. Russia also points to the fact that the system of international law was faced with major challenges in 2008 in the context of two huge regional crises - in Kosovo and in the Caucasus, which gave a strong blow to the authority and the efficiency of international legal standards.

LAVROV SAYS KOSOVO IS ONE OF MAIN DIFFERENCES BTW RUSSIA, US

GENEVA, March 7 (Tanjug) - Kosovo is one of the main points of disagreement between Moscow and Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late on Friday after a meeting with US State Secretary Hillary Clinton in Geneva. ""We think that the (unilaterally) declared independence of Kosovo is unlawful," Lavrov said, according to the Itar-TASS news agency. Clinton said that the stand towards Georgia was one of the main differences between the two countries.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia