Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia: daily survey of 6 May 2009

REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

 EUROPEAN COMMISSION SECURES 1.5 MILLION EUROS FOR SENJ MINE

SERBIA

HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR BOSNIA VISITS BELGRADE

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on May 5 told High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko that Serbia fully supported Bosnia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. According to Tadic’s office, at the meeting with Inzko, the president said Serbia advocated the stability of Bosnia and its progress in European integrations. Tadic pointed out that constitutional changes in Bosnia were possible only through the agreement of democratically elected legitimate representatives of the three constitutive peoples the Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats. In his conversation with Inzko, Cvetkovic highlighted that Serbia absolutely respected Bosnia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and, as far as internal order was concerned, supported every agreement reached by all three sides. During the visit to Belgrade, Inzko also talked with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic. The two collocutors discussed the European integration of Western Balkan countries and regional economic cooperation. Djelic and Inzko also reviewed the possibilities of joint infrastructure projects in energy, agriculture and road infrastructure, an announcement from Djelic’s office said.

INZKO: PROMOTION OF SERBIAN - BIH COOPERATION DISCUSSED

BELGRADE, May 5 (Tanjug) - The international community’s High Representative for Bosnia - Herzegovina (BiH), Valentin Inzko, said Tuesday that in Belgrade he met with Serbia’s officials to discuss possibilities for promoting cooperation between the two countries and that he has positive reactions from these meetings. Following talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Inzko told reporters that it is well known that Serbia supports the candidacy of the entire BiH to the UN Security Council and that this was one of the topics discussed today. We also focused on how to promote cooperation between Serbia and BiH, especially in this time of crisis. It is very important to have more economic cooperation, Inzko stated. He set out that he met separately with Serbian Premier Mirko Cvetkovic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and that they discussed the situation in BiH, the region and the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords. Inzko said that during his first visit to Serbia also discussed were infrastructure projects because, as he explained, the joint river Drina has much hydrological potential. Speaking about the road infrastructure, Inzko said that there are tenders in which Serbian companies could also compete. It is good that all neighboring countries, regardless of which region they are located, should invest their money, especially with regards Serbia or Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.

U.N. RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN RIGHTS VISITS BELGRADE

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - Serbian Parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic on May 5 discussed the state of human rights and religious freedoms in Serbia with U.N. rapporteur for human rights Asma Jahangir. Djukic Dejanovic pointed out that religious freedom was cultivated in Serbia and reminded Jahangir that the parliament had recently passed a law banning all forms of discrimination, including religious discrimination. The speaker particularly went over the state of human rights and religious freedom in Serb enclaves in Kosovo, stating that "the Serbs there are very deprived in exercising their rights." Jahangir later told journalists that Serbia had progressed in the process of democratization, but that it had more work to do in achieving the freedom of religion. Since April 30, when she arrived to Serbia, Jahangir visited several multinational areas, where she received both positive and negative impressions, she stated. I am aware of the region’s painful past and the suffering the people of Serbia and others in the region went through during conflict and war. I also know that, regrettably, religious convictions contributed to those conflicts. Fortunately, it seems that Serbia has opted for democratic processes and that improving religious freedom will have a key role in those processes, Jahangir told a news conference. She added that her perception was that there was an atmosphere of religious tolerance in Serbia. Jahangir will give her opinion on Serbia in a report due to be presented at the 13th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

COUNCIL: INCREASE IN SEVERITY OF PENALTY AFFECTING TRUST

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - On May 5, the National Council for Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia said that increasing the severity of Veselin Sljivancanin’s sentence would additionally impact on the Serbian public’s trust in the court. Increasing the severity of Sljivancanin’s penalty by a second-degree council based on evidence that was known to a first-degree council will be hard for the public to understand and represents yet another fact affecting the Serbian public’s trust in the impartiality of the ICTY’s work and will additionally reduce or even bring it down to a minimum, the council said in the statement. The council also stressed that it was not questioning the severity of crimes committed in Ovcara, Vukovar in 1991, which are also being processed in Serbia. "Despite the dissatisfaction caused by certain ICTY decisions, the Republic of Serbia is aware of its international obligations and it will continue to strive to wrap up cooperation with the ICTY, because this is in the best interest of the state and its citizens," the statement said. The council added that it would proceed with an initiative to enable those convicted by the ICTY to serve their sentences in their native countries.

AUSTRIA WILL NOT WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM KOSOVO

VIENNA, May 5 (Tanjug) - State Secretary in Serbian Defense Ministry Dusan Spasojevic told Tanjug Tuesday, at the end of his two-day visit to Vienna, that Austria will not withdraw its troops from KFOR in Kosovo. The Austrian Defense Ministry has assured the Serbian delegation that Austria will not unilaterally withdraw its troops from KFOR but will wait for an international community decision, he said. Austrian troops will continue to act in keeping with the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, he said after meeting Austrian and OSCE officials. Austrian Defense Ministry Director of Security Policy Johann Pucher and Spasojevic noted that bilateral cooperation in the defense sector is developing well and can be fostered further, especially in the military industry sector. The talks also focused on experiences in participation in peace operations and on European security and defense policy, Spasojevic said. OSCE Secretary General, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Spasojevic noted that Kosovo is the main security problem in southeastern Europe and agreed that OSCE should continue to work in Serbia’s southern province in keeping with the UN mandate. Spasojevic also conferred with Austrian parliamentary defense committee President Peter Fichtenbauer and Political Director in the Foreign Ministry Stefan Lehne, with whom he agreed on the need for fostering regional cooperation in the defense sector.

GAZPROMNYEFT TO INVEST 118 MILLION EUROS INTO NIS

BELGRADE, May 5 (Tanjug) - The Board of Directors of the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) has approved the use of 118 million euros of Gazpromnyeft of Russia for the modernization and reconstruction of the NIS industrial complex as part of the realization of this year’s investment program, this company announced on Tuesday. The Board of Directors decided on Monday that this month NIS would get over 20 million euros for the reconstruction of its refineries and ecology projects. The president of the NIS Board of Directors, Dmitri Malishev, said that the operative allocation of funds for the investment program confirms that Gazpromnyeft is carrying out its obligations from the contract on the purchase of 51% of NIS shares, NIS said in a statement. Under this contract, Gazpromnyeft has to pay (as it has done) 400 million euros for the shares, and to earmark about 500 million euros for investments by the year 2012.

SERBIA – EU

DJELIC SAYS EU VISAFREE REGIME TO BE DISCUSSED ON MAY 12

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - Serbia’s progress toward a visafree travel regime with the EU will be reviewed in Belgrade on May 12 together with European Commission Western Balkans Directorate Director Pierre Mirel, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic announced on May 5. "We expect the European Commission, followed by the EU Council of Ministers, to first take a stance on the question of visa liberalization for Serbia and possibly other Western Balkan countries," Djelic told a news conference held at Belgrade City Hall. Austrian Ambassador in Serbia Clemens Koja said that there was a clear perspective of visas for Serbian citizens traveling to the EU to be cancelled by Jan. 1, 2010. A competition, "Let’s Travel to Europe 2009," was presented at Belgrade City Hall. The competition is being organized by the European Movement in Serbia and will enable 200 of Serbia’s best students to spend a month traveling across the EU.

DACIC: SWEDEN SUPPORTS LIBERALIZATION OF VISA REGIME

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic and Swedish Police Commissioner Bengt Svensson met in Belgrade on May 5 and discussed police cooperation. Dacic told a news conference that Sweden, which will take over the chairing of the European Union on July 1, supported the liberalization of the EU visa regime for Serbian citizens. "Over the last few years, in cooperation with Swedish authorities, the Serbian police has had a series of successful operations in fighting organized crime, above all narcotic trafficking," the minister said. Svensson also pointed out that police cooperation was good both operationally and in the area of police development. The Swedish police commissioner also stated that he hoped Sweden and Serbia would succeed in realizing cooperation in the strategic plan for the development of the Serbian police.

TERRAL SAYS SERBIA’S ONLY PATH LEADS TO EUROPE

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - French Ambassador to Serbia Jean Pierre Terral said in Kraljevo on Mary 5 that Serbia "will catch up with other countries on the road to Europe" when it resolved the issue of cooperation with the Hague tribunal. "As far as France is concerned, we know Serbia is doing everything it should be doing in terms of lifting this obstacle and I am confident that obstacle will not last too long and that Serbia will catch up, because it has all the means to do so," Terral said. The ambassador said that there was no other alternative for Serbia beside Europe, because, "those who talk about Russia fail to understand that Russia is no longer a superforce." "Russia is less rich than some countries with a much smaller population, i.e. it is less reach than the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, and even Italy," Ambassador Terral said. "We maintain a great friendship with Russia, but it is no longer a superforce," Terral said. The ambassador added, "There are people in Serbia who talk about the nonaligned movement," in which Yugoslavia used to play a big part, but "that movement is finished with."

COOPERATION DEAL BETWEEN SERBIAN, SLOVAK JUSTICE MINISTRIES

BRATISLAVA, May 05 (Beta) - Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic and her Slovak counterpart Stefan Harabin on May 5 signed an agreement on cooperation in several important areas. "The visit also has a political dimension. In the last few days Slovakia submitted its opinion to the International Court of Justice, taking the position that the unilateral proclamation of independence by Kosovo and Metohija is an act not founded in international law," Malovic told BETA after her meeting with Harabin in Bratislava. The Serbian minister thanked Slovak officials for their involvement in the proceeding before the International Court of Justice, which her country considers very important. The court is to rule on the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration. The deal signed by Malovic and Harabin encompasses mainly cooperation in the reform of the justice system in Serbia, execution of criminal punishment and the fight against organized crime, corruption, human trafficking and drugs. "This does not exhaust all areas in which the ministries will work together. Today we agreed on exchanging experiences about the system of notaryship, which has existed for a long time in Slovakia and which the Justice Ministry of Serbia wishes to introduce and propose a law on notaries public to the parliament in the second half of the year," Malovic said.

EU TO CONTINUE TO ASSIST SERBIA AT TIME OF CRISIS

BELGRADE, May 05 (Beta) - The European Union will give Serbia a total of three billion euros by 2011 through assistance programs, including the assistance awarded since 2000, Alberto Cammarata, director of the European Commission’s European integration department in Serbia. By 2006, Serbia had received two billion euros from the EU, while another billion is envisaged to come in through projects by 2011, Cammarata said at an Erste Bank meeting on European projects for small and mediumsized companies. Cammarata said some of the funds were intended for small and mediumsized companies in Serbia and that this sector of the economy had received more than EUR50 million for modernization from the EU.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION SECURES 1.5 MILLION EUROS FOR SENJ MINE

BELGRADE, May 5 (Tanjug) - The European Union has secured 1.5 million euros for the realization of Serbia’s project for the restauration and rehabilitation of the Senj mine and its transformation into a museum city and regional center of industrial heritage, a press conference was told in the Culture Ministry on Tuesday. Assistant Culture Minister for International Cooperation Branislav Dimitrijevic said that this is the first project dealing with cultural development in Serbia that has received the backing of EU funds, adding that this is very important since it could not be realiazed without these funds. Serbia’s project was one of 26 from southeast Europe which has applied for funds of the European Commission (EC). Our project is specific because it refers both to monuments and to living people since the Senj mine, the cradle of Serbia’s industrialization and which used to employ 4,000 miners, today employs 200 miners. The EC funds will enable that the Senj mine to be transformed into a museum city that should contribute to the appearance of a new site on our map of cultural tourism since it is located 15km away from the town of Cuprija and the Corridor 10 route, and is in the vicinity of the Ravanica and Manasija monasteries in beautiful natural surroundings.

For further information:

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia