Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia: daily survey of 24 December 2008

REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

 UNDP: SERBS AND ALBANIANS READY TO WORK TOGETHER

SERBIA – RUSSIA – ENERGY AGREEMENT

TADIC: SERBIA ACHIEVED A LOT IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH RUSSIA

NOVI SAD, Dec. 23 (Beta) - On Dec. 23, Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Serbia had achieved much through negotiations with Russia on the so-called energy deal, adding that the country had defended its vital national interests. "I think that we have achieved quite a lot, considering the paper that we started from. Of course, you can never achieve everything that you want in negotiations, but overall, I think that we can be satisfied," Tadic said in Novi Sad. "We have guarantees insofar as NIS is concerned because we secured a social program that was also a topic of the negotiations, by protecting the standard of our people working in NIS. We also secured ecological protection, and secured guarantees tied to investment. Thus, over EUR500 million will be invested in NIS over the next few years. All of these questions required fighting for," he said. "Another guarantee which is possibly bigger than the rest, is that Europe needs 200 billion cubic meters of gas in the next five years, while Russia is basing its economy primarily on oil and gas, which it is looking to sell to those who need it and that is the European market," Tadic said. Tadic added that Serbia was located at the "crossroads," somewhere between Russian gas and the European market, and that he thought that the country ought to use this position, while, at the same time, Serbia has secured "stable gas supplies for the next 30 years."

CVETKOVIC: SERBIA GOT POLITICAL GUARNTEES

BELGRADE, Dec 23 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said on Tuesday that Serbia had received political guarantees for its energy arrangement with Russia and assessed that a very good deal had been made for the Serbian side. In an interview with TV B92, Cvetkovic announced that an agreement on energy arrangement would be signed with Russian partners in Moscow on Wednesday, and pointed out that Serbia had obtained political guarantees for the realization of the deal on the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline and underground gas storage facilities in Banatski Dvor. He said that the guarantees were of "political nature" and that they were backed by the "personal and political credibility of two top officials of the Russian Federation, (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin and (President Dmitry) Medvedev as a proof that Russia will build that." "We will receive financial and legal guarantees in about two years, but for the time being, we have political guarantees. In two years’ time, we will see whether all this will be realized as well," Cvetkovic said. According to him, the contract also resolves the issue of monopoly in a way which is suitable for Serbia, as well as the issue of investments and guarantees. The prime minister assessed that our team had managed to make huge progress in respect to all critical parameters and added that "he personally thinks that the offered guarantees are not so weak." Speaking about the budget, he said that it was difficult for him to say whether the parliament would manage to adopt the budget by the end of the year, expressing hope, however, that the "deputies will get down to work." "If this does not happen, we will automatically switch over to the so-called temporary financing," Cvetkovic said.

JEREMIC: CONFIRMATION OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said on Wednesday that the oil-energy agreement with the Russian Federation will make Serbia’s economy stronger, but pointed out that it also has a political dimension because it confirms the strategic partnership between Moscow and Belgrade and makes Serbia more capable for handling the challenges that it is facing. Talking with reporters at the Serbian Embassy in Moscow, Jeremic underscored that the foreign-policy priorities of Belgrade in the coming years will be a continuation of the struggle to preserve the Constitutional order using diplomatic means, and set out that this struggle would not have much chance of success without the support of the Russian Federation. The South Stream gas pipeline will make it possible for Serbia to become an attractive destination for foreign investments and the forking place on the main pathway of supplying Europe with the energy source that will be very important in the 21st century, Jeremic said. "The year 2009 will be a year of political and economic challenges generally, but this contract will make Serbia’s economy stronger, and this confirmation of the strategic partnership will make Serbia more capable, in the political sense, to resist the challenges that it is facing," the minister said. Top state officials of Serbia and Russia will sign three documents in the Kremlin today, specifying the realization of the Russian-Serbian energy package, and a political agreement in which the two states will guarantee the realization of this arrangement.

BAJATOVIC: INVESTMENTS IN NIS OF 550 MILLION EUROS

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Tanjug) - Srbijagas Director Dusan Bajatovic said on Wednesday that the agreement on the sale of the Serbian Petroleum Industry (NIS) to Russia’s Gazpromneft envisages, among other things, 550 million euros in investments - 490 million that will go into expanding and updating the production capacities and 60 million for ecology-related activities. Talking to reporters at the Serbian Embassy in Moscow, Bajatovic said all NIS products will be based on the Euro 5 standard, which indicates that the company products will not be intended for the Serbian market alone. "The possibility for Serbia to develop and become an energy leader in the Balkans is important for both sides, and, provided Serbia takes full advantage of this arrangement, it would imply that Serbia has been provided with completely new economic possibilities and a better geostrategic position," Bajatovic said. The capacity of the South Stream gas pipeline has not been precisely agreed with the Russian side yet, Bajatovic said, but pointed out that the agreement signed a year ago guarantees that the annual flow rate will not be less than 10 billion cubic meters, which would meet Serbia’s energy requirements.

DULIC: NEW OWNER OF NIS WILL HAVE TO APPLY ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS

BELGRADE, Dec. 23 (Beta) - Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Oliver Dulic has said that any buyer of the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) will be asked to guarantee the implementation of strict EU environmental standards. "As a ministry, whatever happens, whoever becomes the new owner of NIS and whatever country they may come from, we will insist on the implementation of strict environmental standards that will also become our standards when Serbia joins the EU," Dulic told journalists in Belgrade. He added that there have been no problems concerning investing in future pollution prevention systems since the beginning of talks on the sale of the oil company with the Russian delegation. "The essence of the disputes was historical pollution, i.e. who is obligated to finance the cleanup of pollution that has been accumulating practically for the past several decades," Dulic said, without specifying whether those disputes have been resolved.

SERBIA

TADIC WISHES ARCHBISHOP HOCEVAR MERRY CHRISTMAS

BEOGRAD, Dec.24 (Tanjug) - President of Serbia Boris Tadic on Wednesday wished Merry Christmas to Catholic Archbishop of Belgrade Stanislav Hocevar and to all the Catholic believers and citizens of Serbia who celebrate this holiday by the Gregorian calendar. Tadic wished everyone who is celebrating to spend Christmas with their close ones in peace, welfare, mutual respect and tolerance. "On this day of peace I wish for it to be our guiding idea and to remind us of the common values we are to nurture, may the following days bring you peace and happiness", said the President of Serbia in his Christmas greeting.

TADIC: SERBIA DOING ALL IT CAN TO TRACK DOWN ICTY FUGITIVES

NOVI SAD, Dec 24 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic said in Novi Sad late on Tuesday that Serbia was doing all it could to track down the remaining ICTY indictees, but that it was faced with "serious technical problems" in that respect. "The 26 members of the European Union appreciate the efforts we are making, but one of them, Holland, is hindering us because of its internal political reasons. It is because of Srebrenica that one Dutch government was toppled. And I myself, as a president of Serbia, went to that town and paid tribute to the victims, and I am doing all in my power, in the operational sense, so that the remaining fugitives face The Hague," Tadic said while answering to the questions of the press, following the 2008 Dr Zoran Djindjic Young Scientists Awards ceremony. The Serbian president holds that there are no technical conditions for the Serbian National Assembly to adopt the Vojvodina draft statute by the end of the year. Commenting on the alleged dispute between Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac and Chief of General Staff General Zdravko Ponos, President Tadic said that "conceptual differences among people should be resolved by the people themselves, and not by the state as an arbitrator." "It is the prime minister who is responsible for changes in the government, but I, as the head of the state and the leader of the biggest party in the government, shall not give up on my right to influence the political life," Tadic said.

CROATIAN MINISTRY HANDS SERBIAN AMBASSADOR NOTE OF PROTEST

ZAGREB, Dec. 23 (Beta) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry has handed Serbian Ambassador to Zagreb Radivoj Cveticanin a note of protest over the latest changes to the Serbian government’s regulation on the protection of property of companies based in the territory of the former Yugoslav republics, the ministry said in a news release on Dec. 23. The news release, which the ministry sent to all media, says that the note of protest reminds the Serbian government of the fact that it received a note from Croatia on the same subject concerning previous amendments to the regulation on July 24 this year. The latest note "again points out that the adoption of regulations that, after the signing and coming into force of the contract on succession issues, prevent the implementation of that same contract, especially its Annex G, is unacceptable," adds the news release. The Serbian side is being called on, "in anticipation of the resolution of property and legal issues between Croatia and Serbia on bilateral grounds, precisely according to the principles incorporated in the contract on succession issues, to refrain from actions that would make the final resolution of the matter difficult."

TERRAL SAYS ICTY SHOULD NOT BE OBSTACLE TO ACCESSION

BELGRADE, Dec. 23 (Beta) - France believes that cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should not be an obstacle at this point to Serbia’s progression toward the EU, French Ambassador in Belgrade Jean Francois Terral said on Dec. 23. Terral told a news conference, regarding the completion of France’s EU chairmanship, that it was France’s view that so far under the incumbent cabinet, cooperation between Serbia and the ICTY had been satisfactory and that at least 25 of the EU’s 27 member states shared that opinion. He said that France absolutely agreed with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn’s stance that, at the present moment, cooperation with the ICTY should not be an obstacle to Serbia’s progression toward the EU. The French ambassador said that, in any case, France would continue to espouse this view among EU members, and stressed that it was necessary for "Serbia to continue doing everything that is necessary on all levels" of cooperation with the ICTY. Terral reiterated that Kosovo was not a condition for Serbia’s further association with the EU, and that Serbia and Kosovo needed to normalize their relations in the future, as a conflict would impede their progress. He also said that Serbia would have the most to gain from the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline in Serbia and that the pipeline was worth making some "sacrifices" where the sale of the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) was concerned. Terral said that if it was true that the energy deal with the Russians consisted of three parts the construction of the pipeline, the sale of NIS and the construction of an underground natural gas storage facility in Banatski Dvor, then "this is great" for Serbia. He added, however, that the lack of full assurance for the pipeline’s construction was a problem. Terral said that, in his opinion, the pipeline’s construction depended on "objective parameters, which cannot be controlled," such as a high demand and gas prices.

JELASIC: ARRANGEMENT WITH IMF IS NOT THREATENED

BELGRADE, Dec 23 (Tanjug) - Serbia’s arrangement with the IMF will not be threatened if the budget is not adopted by the end of the year, because the IMF request was just for it to be adopted by the government, rather than by parliament as well, National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Radovan Jelasic said on Tuesday. In the break of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Assembly, Jelasic said that all IMF conditions had been met and that it was certain that the Fund would make a positive assessment of its programme with Serbia in mid-January. He said that it would be better if the country entered the New Year with the solved issue of the budget, but that even the temporary financing would not threaten anything except that it would mean a lower production.

TURK: SLOVENIA INTERESTED IN SERBIA MOVING FASTER TOWARD EU

BELGRADE, Dec 24 (Tanjug) - Slovenian President Danilo Turk has said that Slovenia is interested in Serbia stepping up its progress toward Europe, but stressed the great importance of the issue of the extradition of Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. There have been certain criticisms that Slovenia is excessively underlining the need that Serbia’s accession to the European Union (EU) should be stepped up, ignoring the need to coordinate that progress with Belgrade’s cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague, he said. At this point, the question of Ratko Mladic is very important, Turk said in an interview for the Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti published on Wednesday. Asked whether it is possible to deblock the Interim Agreement on trade with the EU and the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) even if Mladic is not brought before the ICTY, as certain European countries have announced they will attempt to pressure The Netherlands, and whether Slovenia will do this as well, Turk said he believes The Netherlands has its reasons why it is not yielding to pressure. Turk does not know at this point whether there is a formula that would enable a deblocking of the agreement without Mladic’s presence in The Hague. The Slovenian president said he did not wish to encourage any false illusions in that regard.

USAID TO ASSIST SERBIA’S AGRICULTURE

BELGRADE, Dec. 23 (Beta) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Dec. 23 said next year it would launch a project through which it would help Serbia’s agricultural sector to achieve world standards Global GAP and ISO. According to a statement, the assistance would be directed to Serbian associations, farming cooperatives and companies dealing with primary agricultural production and processing. The program will be implemented in two phases in 2009. In the first phase, USAID will organize educational Global GAP seminars throughout Serbia, while in the second, USAID’s Agribusiness Project will offer financial assistance to food producers and processors with the aim of implementing standards Global GAP, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000. Global GAP seminars will be held in Cacak on Jan. 22, Nis on Jan. 23, Novi Sad on Jan. 26, Smederevo on Jan. 30, and Subotica on Feb. 1.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA – SITUATION, REACTIONS

CHAMBER URGES PREPARATIONS FOR BANNING IMPORTS FROM SERBIA

PRISTINA, Dec 23 (Tanjug) - The Kosovo Chamber of Commerce (PKK) has called on importers of goods from Serbia and Bosnia - Herzegovina (BiH) to prepare for a possible blockade of these imports. PKK announced that this would be a reciprocal measure to the Dec. 3 decision of Serbia and BiH to ban the import and transit of goods from Kosovo to other countries, "since the accompanying documents were stamped by the Kosovo customs, rather than the UNMIK customs as was the practice until now." PKK said that the Kosovo institutions have informed the CEFTA Secretariat about this and that they would introduce equal measures if this practice is not changed. "PKK calls on all Kosovo importers of goods from Serbia and BiH to seriously start considering exchanging goods from these countries for those from others, so that their businesses would not suffer due to the measures that Kosovo will be forced to introduce in order to secure reciprocity in relations with Serbia and BiH, as independence states," PKK said in a statement.

UNDP: SERBS AND ALBANIANS READY TO WORK TOGETHER

PRISTINA, Dec 23 (Tanjug) - The number of Serbs in Kosovo who are prepared to work with the Kosovo Albanians has increased over the past three months, while the number of Albanians who wish to work with Serbs has also increased significantly, show the results of a research conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), presented in Pristina today. In Kosovo at present, 43% of Serbs, compared to 35% last July, are ready to work with Albanians, while 55% of Albanians are prepared to work with Serbs. This increase does not mean that they have also changed their approach to the stands of Albanian political leaders. On the contrary, dissatisfaction of the Serbs with the stands of political representatives of the Kosovo Albanians is growing. For the Kosovo Serbs, there are two main factors that have impact on interethnic relations - stand of Albanian leaders (59%) and insufficient efforts of the Albanians in regards to integration of Serbs (17%). Albanians believe that the two main factors influencing the interethnic relations continue to be Belgrade’s influence (54%) and lack of readiness on behalf of the Serbs to integrate into the Kosovo society (24%). According to the above research, carried out last November, 14.5% of interviewed Albanians, 73% of Serbs and 24% of members of other communities stated that they feel "somewhat unsafe or rather unsafe when on the streets."

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia