Belgrade, May 4, 2010

SERBIA – NORWAY

KING HERALD V OF NORWAY RECEIVES PRESIDENT TADIC
OSLO, May 3 (Tanjug) - King Herald V received President of Serbia Boris Tadic and host an official luncheon in his honor at the Royal Palace, which was the beginning of Tadic's two-day official visit to Norway. Tadic is scheduled to meet with the country's top-ranking officials, representatives of the telecommunication company Telenor and other businessmen from Norway to discuss a number of political and economic issues. Tadic will meet with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Parliament Speaker Dag Andersen. Tadic is also planned to open a three-day Serb-Norwegian Business Forum, which will be an opportunity for a Serbian delegation, including Minister for Trade and Services, to present our country's business potential to Norway's businessmen. The president is also scheduled to lay a wreath and pay his respects to YU partisans buried at the cemetery Vestre Gravlund in Oslo.

TADIC MEETS STOLTENBERG & TELENOR GROUP PRESIDENT
OSLO, May 3 (Tanjug) - President Tadic met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. “Serbia plays the key role for peace and stability in the Balkans”, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting with Tadic. Noway is very supportive of Serbia's EU integration, said Stoltenberg. Asked which of the two countries would become an EU member first, the Norwegian prime minister said it would be Serbia, as it is very dedicated to the process. That statement will make the Serbian people very happy, Tadic responded and stressed that Serbia is doing everything in its power to meet all EU requirements and become a full-fledged member before Norway. The Serbian president said he is proud the Serbian parliament passed a resolution condemning the crimes against Muslims in Srebrenica. "This is our contribution to stability and reconciliation between countries and nations in the region," Tadic said and added that he will attend the 15-year commemoration of the crime in Srebrenica. Kosovo is the only issue the two countries do not see eye to eye on, as Norway recognized its unilaterally declared independence. However, Norway also supported Serbia's initiative in the UN GA in October 2008 that the ICJ render an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's secession. Tadic stressed that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's independence because it violates international law. He stressed, however, that no one in the EU has posed this as a condition for membership. Serbia is ready to resume talks with Kosovo Albanians in order to find a sustainable compromise solution, Tadic said. Tadic has earlier visited the telecommunications company Telenor. The president met with Telenor Group President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and other management representatives of the company. By purchasing the majority of the shares of Serbia's company Mobi 63 in 2006, Telenor became the leading foreign investor in Serbia, while in 2010 it was also granted a fixed telephony license. Tadic will open a three-day Serb-Norwegian Business Forum, which will be an opportunity for the Serbian delegation to present to Norway's businessmen Serbia's business potential and establish contacts. Upon his arrival Tadic met with King Harald V, with whom he discussed a number of political and economic issues during an official luncheon.

SERBIA – REGION

JEREMIC: DOORS CLOSED TO PRISTINA AUTHORITIES
BELGRADE, May 1 (Tanjug) - Serbia's participation in the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sarajevo in June will mean continuity of the policy of the official Belgrade, since it remains determined that representatives of the provisional institutions in Kosovo and Metohija may not be represented in the same way as the other states, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has stated. In an interview for Vecernje Novosti, Jeremic observed that it would be good to have the "voice of everyone from the region be heard" in Sarajevo and that is why Serbia is working on finding a solution that would in no way jeopardize UN SC Resolution 1244 and the stand of principle on non-recognition of the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo and Metohija. "UNIMK's presence will be necessary for that and for the establishment of a clear asymmetry in the representation and appearance of state delegations and those who are not," underscored Jeremic. Minister Jeremic said that the "brutal" treatment of the non-Albanian population in the province when transmitters of the Serbian mobile telephony operators were disabled in Kosovo and Metohija is a retaliation by provisional institutions for their diplomatic failure when it comes to Pristina's accession in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and getting a country code different from that of Serbia. Minister Jeremic also evaluated that international representatives were "caught off guard" in the telephone blockade of Kosmet and "this is something that must not have happened."

SILAJDZIC: JOSIPOVIC WILL BE INCLUDED IN REGION TALKS
SARAJEVO, April 30 (Tanjug) - President of the Bosnia-Herzegovina (BIH) Presidency Haris Silajdzic today stated that Croatian President Ivo Josipovic would also be included in future multilateral talks on the situation in the region, which he had recently started with Serbian President Tadic, with Turkey's mediation. The first meeting within the initiative was held in Istanbul and it was attended by Tadic, Silajdzic and Turkish President Gul. During those "important and useful" talks, great attention was dedicated to Croatia and Josipovic will be included in all future meetings, Silajdzic said for the Sarajevo daily Dani. Silajdzic said that he had already established contact with Josipovic, adding that there are numerous outstanding issues BIH has with Serbia and Croatia which may be solved together, using a regional approach. According to him, such cooperation might produce a joint appearance of the three former Yugoslav republics in third markets, which would give "brilliant results."

EU TO ENCOURAGE DIALOGUE AND MEDIATION
BELGRADE, May 4 (Tanjug) - The EU envoy for northern Kosovo, Italian diplomat Michael Giffoni, said that there is no doubt reconciliation and joint progress are the only solution for all peoples in the Western Balkans and expressed hope this would happen sooner rather than later. Giffoni stressed that the EU has the same goals in southern and northern Kosovo, as well as in the entire Western Balkans - to bring the European outlook closer to the common people. For Kosovska Mitrovica and other parts of northern Kosovo, this means intensifying EU presence and daily contact. Our first goal is to be closer to the people and promote EU values by introducing the rule of law through EULEX, Giffoni said for daily Politika. Giffoni pointed out that International Civilian Representative Pieter Feith's plan for the integration of northern Kosovo is not a plan of the EU. It might share some of the same points, but it adopts a different approach. The EU can act only from the bottom up, while the strategy for the north is based on the rule of authority. This may or may not be a valid approach, but it is not the EU's approach, he said.

SERBIA

MINISTER JEREMIC AT U.N. MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
NEW YORK, May 4 (Tanjug) - Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is in New York today for a one-day working visit, during which he will take part at the UN Ministerial Conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Foreign ministers of all Treaty signatory countries, that is all UN member states, except India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, will take part in the conference, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. During his stay Jeremic will hold a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from all parts of the world and will inform them about the current situation in the process of resolving a future status of Kosovo and Metohija.

DJELIC ON HIS VISIT TO GERMANY
BELGRADE, May 3 (Tanjug) - Deputy Prime Minister Djelic stated that he will inform his German collocutors during his upcoming visit to Germany that Serbia's ambition is to become worthy member of the EU family and to be experienced in Germany as a central country of the Western Balkans. In his statement, Djelic said that his meetings with German ministers will focus on bilateral, economic and scientific relations between the two countries. He said that he will meet, among others, with German Minister of Economics and Technology Reiner Bruderle and Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan, and will present to the German parliament Serbia's activities on its way to the EU. He also said that he would request the German parliament's support for a speedy forwarding of Serbia's application to the EC. He will also meet with advisers to Chancellor Merkel and will address a meeting dubbed Europa Forum on Europe's future as the only representative of a non-EU country.

DACIC: FOR STATE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
BELGRADE, May 1 (Tanjug) - Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic congratulated police members and all citizens on the International Labor Day, saying that Serbia must become a state of social justice. "I believe that Serbia may not be a real state unless it is a state of social justice, which is also written in the Serbian Constitution," Dacic told reporters at the Interior Ministry Educational Center. "Serbia must not abandon its social-democratic tradition and fight for workers' rights," underscored Dacic.

KOSOVO – METOHIJA

LAJCAK: EU MUST BE PREPARED FOR ICJ'S STAND ON KOSOVO
NOVI SAD, May 1 (Tanjug) - Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has said that the EU must be prepared for an opinion of the ICJ on the legality of the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, expressing his confidence that the publication of the ICJ's opinion would an opportunity for the EU to act towards the stabilization of the region. "The EU is an important global player, but we have to prove our potential credibility before all in our courtyard, which is the Western Balkans," Lajcak said in a statement for Dnevnik, adding that the EU must be prepared for a decision of the ICJ, that it must not be caught off guard.

SPOKESMAN STANO: LAJCAK HAS NO SPECIAL PLAN FOR KOSOVO
BELGRADE, May 3 (Tanjug) - Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has no special plan for resolving the Kosovo-Metohija problem and every statement on the existence of such a plan is unfounded, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Peter Stano told. Stano thus denied the report by daily Dnevnik, which wrote that Lajcak has prepared a plan for solving the issue of the relations between Serbia and Kosovo after the ICJ releases its opinion. "Minister Lajcak has no special plan for Kosovo. He distances himself from the writing of the Dnevnik daily and underlines that his evaluations and answers were wrongly interpreted," said Stano. Stano also said that he has no information on whether Kosovo should be included in the agenda of the Brussels meeting on May 10, as reported by Dnevnik. According to him, Lajcak spoke about promotion of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija and his recent visit to Kosovo in the said interview. As specified by Stano, Lajcak said that Slovakia's representatives will discuss Kosovo only within the EU and that they would not come up with a special plan. The minister repeated the stand of the official Bratislava that it does not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.

MOBILE TELEPHONY PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED SOON
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, April 30 (Tanjug) - EU envoy for the north of Kosovo Michael Giffoni said that he hopes the issue of removing the Serbian mobile operators in Kosovo will be resolved very quickly and without reactions that could create problems for ordinary people. Giffoni said in Kosovska Mitrovica that the removal of the mobile operators was an act that is kind of justified, and that something like this should not cause any violent reaction. As the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Frattini said in Belgrade and Pristina, it is important to find pragmatic solutions to these practical issues. Perhaps these solutions should be of technical nature, because it is the only thing that can contribute to improvement of the situation and help avoid bad consequences for the people, Giffoni said. The Italian diplomat said that such things should not be politicized and that the EU wants to resolve this situation in a pragmatic manner. After the removal of the transmitters and antennae of the Serbian operators in areas south of Kosovska Mitrovica, more than 100,000 Serbs and an unknown number of users of other nationalities in the province have been deprived of mobile signal.

POLICE FIND ANOTHER BUNKER WITH WEAPONS, THREAT TO REGION
BELGRADE, April 30 (Tanjug) - Friday morning Macedonian police found one more bunker with weapons near the near the Macedonia-Kosovo border crossing at the village of Blace, where four bunkers with weapons of modern date were found the previous day after an armed conflict of the Macedonian police with an extremist group from Kosovo near the border. Macedonian Minister of Interior Gordana Jankulovska said at the presentation of the seized weapons that the target of the extremists was not only Macedonia but the wider region as well. "Judging by the amount of weapons, it is evident that this is a group that has the potential to be a great threat to general security of citizens," Jankulovska said, adding that the police monitor the security situation in Macedonia and that this action has been prepared for a long while. Macedonian police seized a large quantity of weapons after a shootout with uniformed persons at the Serbian-Macedonian border in the part towards Kosovo-Metohija. Jankulovska could not confirm the information of the Kosovo media that the Kosovo police arrested a group of six people who allegedly are a part of the 12-member group which had an armed clash with the Macedonian police the previous day. She pointed out, however, that there are grounds to believe that they are part of the group. In the action the police found 5 bunkers storing anti-aircraft guns, mortars, automatic rifles, hand grenades, shells, anti-tank and anti-personnel land mines, plastic explosives, ammunition, armor, region maps and food.

BRINGEUS: COOPERATION WITH KOSOVO MUST FOR EUROPEAN FUTURE
BELGRADE, May 4 (Tanjug) - Swedish Ambassador Krister Bringues said that Serbia belongs in the EU but that regional cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo is the necessary condition without which Serbia's European future is uncertain. Bringeus told a news conference held at the Serbian government building that the EU is a project of peace and cooperation and that is it inconceivable for it to admit two warring sides as members, since that would go against its founding principles. He stressed that it is not in the interest of any country, Serbia included, to have a black hole in the region i.e. that no country can afford to have poor neighbors. Bringeus noted the example of Sweden which has invested a great deal of effort to help the development of the Baltic countries in its vicinity.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO DEMAND CONCRETE RESULTS OF EULEX
PRISTINA, May 4 (Tanjug) - The European Parliament (EP) has made a draft of a resolution on Kosovo in which it expresses concern over the fact that the wide spread corruption in this region remains one of the biggest problems, including organized crime. EP demands of EULEX to urgently undertake steps against corruption and organized crime, and to respect the freedom of speech and the independence of media, the Pristina daily Koha Ditore's correspondent from Brussels reported. In terms of environment protection, the EP demands that the thermal plant Kosovo A is immediately closed and that the plant Kosovo B also shuts down as soon as possible. These are just some of the main issues of the draft report on Kosovo envisaged to represent the basis of the resolution made by EP Rapporteur for Kosovo Ulrike Lunacek on the behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Koha Ditore evaluates that Lunacek's proposal is quite critical in respect of corruption, organized crime, and other problems in Kosovo. This time the European Parliament will be rather harsh when it comes to EULEX's responsibilities, and it will require explicit results, the daily concludes, basing such a belief on the EU's credibility on the global scene.

SERBIA – EU

BARROSO ON RE- ELECTION OF JUDGES IN SERBIA
BELGRADE, May 1 (Tanjug) - In his letter on re-election of judges and prosecutors in Serbia, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said that the conclusions drawn by an EC expert mission confirm that the re-election process proved to have major flaws in the composition and independence of the High Judicial Council and the State Chamber of Prosecutors, the implementation of objective criteria, and the transparency and reliability of the process, Politika reported. The EC is aware of the reform of the judicial system in Serbia, which is the key priority of European partnership. In his letter Barroso said that he, Viviane Reding, EC vice-president and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, and Stefan Fule, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, had already raised the issue of the said flaws with their Serbian collocutors in an unambiguous way and had asked them to review the process, Barroso said.

LOUISE BECK CONVINCED EU ENLARGEMENT WILL CONTINUE
BELGRADE, April 30 (Tanjug) - German MP Marie-Louise Beck expressed her conviction that once the global recession has been overcome, the EU will pursue its enlargement policy. A meeting she had with a delegation of the Serbian parliament committee for integration in Europe focused on the political situation in Serbia, the process of EU integration and regional initiatives. Referring to obstacles hindering Serbia's EU integration, committee President Laslo Varga said that Serbia is doing everything to complete cooperation with the ICTY in order to pursue the integration process. As regards Kosovo-Metohija, MPs expressed hope that the ICJ will enable resumption of talks on that isue. By adopting the Resolution on Srebrenica, the Serbian parliament made a contribution to regional reconciliation, it was noted at the meeting.

VOJNOVIC: SERBIA'S PROGRESS IS TIED TO EU INTEGRATION
BELGRADE, May 4 (Tanjug) - U.S. Senator from Ohio George Vojnovic said that he believes Serbia's future progress is closely tied to its economic integration with the rest of Europe. The U.S. believes that sustainable security, stability and economic progress in the Balkans can be best achieved by integrating all countries in the region into Euro-Atlantic institutions, Vojnovic pointed out daily Vecernje novosti. He added that he is very satisfied that EU visas for Serbian citizens have been abolished and especially pleased that Serbia submitted an EU membership bid. He stressed that the Serbian diaspora in the U.S. is key to strong relations between the U.S. and Serbia and to strengthening their friendship, cooperation, open dialogue and trade.

ANOTHER EUR 170 MILLION FROM EU
BELGRADE, May 3 (Tanjug) - After the recently signed Financial Agreement on the use of EUR 70 million from the IPA of the EU for the year 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Djelic will sign in Nis in late May a fresh financial agreement with the EC, Politika has quoted Ognjen Miric, the government's coordinator of the EU funds and Djelic advisor. These will be the funds from the 2010 IPA program, based on which another EUR 170 million will be donated to Serbia for 26 projects, Politika wrote in its on-line issue. Social and economic development of southern Serbia (Jablanica and Pcinja districts) and southwestern Serbia (Zlatibor, Raska, Morava and Rasina district) will be supported with EUR 15 mil from the 2010 package. Funds will also be used for infrastructural investments in institutions of high education (EUR 25 mil) and supervision of works on Corridor 10 (EUR 10 mil). EUR 2.5 mil will be used for the fight against financial crime, while EUR 28 mil will be used for the construction of the Leskovac-Vranje electrical substation. "Projects the value of which totals EUR 630 mil have been prepared for the 2007-2010 period and the realization of the projects from the IPA program for the 2007-2009 period have been started," said Miric, recalling that Serbia was allowed to redirect EUR 100 million from the 2009 IPA to the country's budget.

SERBIA – ECONOMY

DINKIC DECIDES NOT TO SELL GALENIKA
BELGRADE, April 30 (Tanjug) - Minister of Economy Mladjan Dinkic has decided that the Belgrade based pharmaceutical company Galenika will not be sold to any of the companies that have bidden for it since none of them are world known pharmaceutical companies, the ministry told. There will be no new tenders this year, and Galenika has an opportunity to strengthen its business position with government support. Two companies have submitted indicative bids to take part in a preliminary tender for purchasing Galenika shares: Surya Pharmaceutical Limited from India and RPG Partners Limited from Cyprus, the Privatizaiton Agency has announced. The Privatization Agency announced a public invitation for indicative bids to buy a majority share of Galenika on Dec 15, 2009. The right to bid was given to strategic investors who have relevant experience in the phrmaceutical industry dating back five financial years and who had more than EUR 100 million of revenue from selling pharmaceutical products in 2008. Another group that was also given the right to participate were the financial investors whose assets were no less than EUR 250 mill at the end of 2008.

UB - LAJKOVAC HIGHWAY PUT OUT TO TENDER
KRALJEVO, April 30 (Tanjug) - Infrastructure Minister Milutin Mrkonjic said that the government invited tenders forhighway construction on the section from Ub to Lajkovac, which is 12.5 km in length and will be a part of the so-called Corridor 11. Mrkonjic said that the Corridor 11 road should link Serbia with Montenegro and Romania. "The tender was opened today and should be finished already in a month," Mrkonjic said, adding that the government is fulfilling all the obligations it has assumed in connection with the corridor construction. At the opening of the second traffic lane on the Kamidzor Bridge over the West Morava River at the entrance into Kraljevo in central Serbia, Mrkonjic said that the preparation for the begining of construction of the highway from Ub to Lajkovac should start. This work is part of the construction of the highway from Belgrade to Pozega, which will be an integral part of the highway which connects Belgrade to the South Adriatic, Mrkonjic said. He said that the value of building the Ub - Lajkovac highway is estimated at EUR 65 million, and added that the deadline for the completion of works is one year.

KALANOVIC: MOTORWAY TO SOUTHERN ADRIATIC READY IN 2015
PODGORICA, May 2 (Tanjug) - Minister for National Investment Plan Verica Kalanovic has stated that the Belgrade-southern Adriatic motorway should be completed by the year 2015, announcing that the construction of the first section of the road (Ub-Lajkovac) will start in summer. For Podgorica daily Vijesti, Kalanovic said that a part of the funds from the sell of of 40 %t of Telekom Srbija shares will be spent to finance the road construction. "The Belgrade-southern Adriatic is Serbia's strategic priority and there is a detailed construction plan set by the top infrastructure body, chaired by President Tadic - the National Infrastructure Council," she said. According to her, the average price for the construction of the 255 km section of the motorway through Serbia must not exceed EUR 7 million per km.

SERBIA-SWEDEN AGREEMENT ON DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
BELGRADE, May 4 (Tanjug) - Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic and Swedish Ambassador to Serbia Krister Bringeus signed an agreement on development cooperation between Serbia and Sweden until 2012, according to which the planned annual disbursement for Serbia during this period amounts to EUR 12 mil. Under the Agreement, Sweden will support programs and projects in the areas of democratic governance and human rights and environment, Dragutinovic said after the signing of the Agreement in Belgrade. Under similar programs, Sweden has donated to Serbia a total of about EUR 106 mil during the 2001-2009 period, said Dragutinovic, adding that the assistance will be disbursed through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), which will communicate directly with the beneficiaries. Bringeus underscored that Serbia's place is indeed in the EU, which is why Sweden wishes to contribute to the achievement of this goal, adding that the implementation of reforms is equally important.