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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Intensive diplomatic activity ahead of Serbia

Belgrade, 1 February 2015

First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said today that it is impossible to predict the verdict of the International Court of Justice regarding mutual genocide accusations of Serbia and Croatia, but expressed confidence that the verdict will be fair.

Author: msp.gov.rs

Dacic said at a regular press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the verdict, which should be rendered on 3 February, will mark the end of a process that has lasted for around 20 years, and will represent an opportunity to leave this question in the past and that the two countries turn to the future.

He explained that there is no right of appeal to this verdict and reiterated that Serbia condemns all war crimes.

The First Deputy Prime Minister said that OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors comes to Belgrade tomorrow, and underlined that it is important that the issue of minorities is not abused at the international level, as it happened sometimes in recent years.

On 5 February, Dacic will attend the Prayer Breakfast in Washington, organised by US President Barack Obama, while on 6 February he will attend a UN Security Council session dedicated to Kosovo-Metohija.

Dacic also announced his participation in the 51st security conference to be held on 6-8 February in Munich, which will also be attended by Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic.

As part of the conference, on 8 February, a panel of eminent personalities will be held, led by German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger.

He specified that on 7 February, a meeting of OSCE troika will be held – of the former, current and future chairs of this organisation, i.e. Switzerland, Serbia and Germany.

The First Deputy Prime Minister said that on 11 February he will visit Hungary to hold meetings that will deal with the positions of the two countries after the suspension of the construction of the gas pipeline "South Stream".

On 19 February he will participate in the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, on 21 February at the UN Security Council session regarding the cooperation of the UN and the OSCE, and on 25 February he will attend a hearing before the Helsinki Committee in Washington.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, is holding consultations and or has started the procedure of appointing more than 15 ambassadors and consuls-general, noting that there is still no agreement on who will be the ambassador to Croatia.

At the same time, the First Deputy Prime Minister expressed the hope that together with the EU a solution will be found that will help to reach an agreement with the US company Esmark of Zelezara Smederevo steelworks.

Serbia expects the EU to have a flexible attitude, as it had done in some other cases because this is a useful cause for all, Dacic underlined.

He explained that the main topic of the continuation of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels will probably be the implementation of the agreements so far, and added that the earliest possible creation of the Community of Serbian municipalities is in the interest of Serbia.

Dacic, who is also Chairman of the OSCE, said that at a meeting of the Contact Group on 31 January in Minsk the opportunity for success was missed, and the only positive thing is that the plan was not rejected, but it was agreed to consider it in the coming period.

He said that it was a pity that yesterday's meeting of representatives of Kiev, Moscow and pro-Russian activists in the east of Ukraine was not successful, given that the plan had been previously agreed upon by Russia and Ukraine.

At the moment, OSCE has 400 observers in the field in Ukraine, four of them from Serbia, and the goal is to have 500, Dacic said and pointed out that the operation of the OSCE Mission in Ukraine is very complicated because the conditions on the ground are similar to warfare and some countries are concerned about the safety of their observers.