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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Negotiating team for talks on Kosovo status to include top officials and experts

26 October 2005

Belgrade, Oct 26, 2005 –Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Slobodan Samardzic said today that members of the Serbia-Montenegrin negotiating team for talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija will be chosen once the UN appoints their special envoy for the issue of status and determines that term of office.

Slobodan Samardzic

In a statement to the Beta news agency, Samardzic said that there is an order in which certain things are done, which is why an air of hastiness in the public opinion should be avoided.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has not yet officially appointed a special envoy or office for the issues of status, said Samardzic, adding that not even the term of office of this team has been determined yet.

“We should patiently wait for these decisions to be passed, and our state organs will then do likewise. Our negotiating team will be set up, which will not be a difficult thing to do. As for our platform for the talks, it has already been formulated and adopted by the government authorities”, said Samardzic.

As Samardzic said, there is no need for Serbia-Montenegro to appoint members of its negotiating team in advance, because that would create the air of artificial hastiness that suits only Kosovo Albanians and UNMIK.

“This is a task that should be approached patiently and without haste. Every move we make will be a timely move from our point of view. It is clear to all of us that this process of negotiations will be a long one, therefore it needs to be well prepared”, Samardzic said.

He added that this is also not the time to talk about the party orientation of future negotiating team members.

A negotiating team should be politically representative as well as professional. Therefore, it should be made of both top state officials and experts, concluded Samardzic, adding that there has been no mentioning of particular names yet.