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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Government officials present Serbia’s attitude on Kosovo-Metohija to Slovakian diplomats

Belgrade/Bratislava, 14 September 2005

Slobodan Samardzic and Dusan Batakovic, advisors to the Serbian Prime Minister and Serbian President respectively, met yesterday and today in Bratislava with Head of the Slovakian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Kukan, with whom they spoke about the problem of Kosovo-Metohija. They also met with Slovakian diplomats who have been following the Balkan processes, and together participated in a roundtable discussion concerning Kosovo-Metohija.

Bratislava

In a statement to Slovakian radio, Samardzic said that Slovakia’s willingness to assist in the solving of existing problems is beneficial for Serbia, not only because of the exchange of experiences, but also because of Slovakia’s readiness to pass on Serbia’s opinions on Kosovo-Metohija to EU partners.

Batakovic and Samardzic reiterated to the Slovakian diplomats that Belgrade is prepared for dialogue on open questions with representatives of the Albanian community in Kosovo-Metohija, but that there are necessary pre-requisites for that.

Batakovic said that this is, above all, a question of decentralisation because it solves six out of eight appointed standards, and they provide a normal life for the people in the province. It is also necessary to protect religious monuments in the province, while the practice of altering them into Kosovar, that is Albanian heritage, is unacceptable.

According to him, during the talks it was pointed out that Belgrade has a reconciled conception “more than autonomy, less than independence”, as well as that it insists on the procedure determined by the UN before the talks on the final status, and that is full abidance of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Slovakia is also interested in helping to solve the Kosovo-Metohija problem, and as a future non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2006, Slovakia expects that the talks on the final status of Kosovo-Metohija will be held during its rotating UN mandate.

The advisors to the prime minister and the president also gave a presentation regarding Belgrade’s suggestions on solving the Kosovo-Metohija problem at the Slovakian Society of Foreign Affairs.