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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia supports principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity

Belgrade, 28 October 2005

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in a statement concerning his forthcoming visit to Greece on October 31 and November 1, that he will meet with Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis in Athens and talk about the improvement of bilateral cooperation, preparations for the upcoming talks on the status of Kosovo-Metohija, as well as about the reconstruction of the Hilandar monastery. On the second day, Kostunica will visit the monastery, which has been partially destroyed in a catastrophic fire last spring.

In a statement for today’s edition of the daily newspaper Politika, Kostunica stressed that Greece is a friendly country and that this visit will be an opportunity to highlight the centuries-old closeness between Serbia and Greece, their friendship and mutual historical, spiritual and political affiliation.

He said that his visit to Athens is especially important because it immediately follows the UN Security Council session, at which a decision was passed to begin a new stage in the process of solving the status of Kosovo-Metohija.

“It is my intention to familiarise our Greek friends with the attitudes of official Belgrade and principles on which any solution to the future status of Kosovo-Metohija should be based”, he pointed out.

“These principles are the same as those on which the international legal system is based, and which Greece has always supported. They are the principles of inviolability of internationally recognised borders and respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity of democratic states”, Kostunica explained.

According to the Prime Minister, Serbia will strongly endorse these principles and, as is the case in all democratic states and as the extensive European experience in solving similar issues has shown, these same principles should lead the country towards a compromise, which in this case is essential autonomy for the province of Kosovo-Metohija as a constituent part of Serbia.

Kostunica said he is convinced that in times to come, there will be a general concordance that a dismemberment of a democratic country against its will and change of its internationally recognised borders is completely inconceivable.

He voiced firm belief that the Contact Group’s well-known stance that Kosovo-Metohija cannot be divided must be fully respected and this ultimately means that neither Kosovo-Metohija nor Serbia will be divided.

“It is useless to say how dangerous such a divide would be as a precedent for issues concerning the regional stability. Serbia fully accepts its share of responsibilities for the preservation of stability and improvement of relations in the region. I believe that Greece’s role in creating a peaceful and prosperous region is of extreme importance, and that good relations between Belgrade and Athens greatly contribute to this”, Kostunica pointed out.

He said that Serbia is ready for a compromise and prepared to give essential autonomy to the province. What is most important is that this solution is in line with the most general and significant principles of international law, he added.

“Finally, I do not doubt that our talks with Greek top officials will give a new impetus to our already satisfactory bilateral cooperation in political, economical and cultural spheres. Among other things, we will certainly talk about joint efforts to reconstruct as soon as possible the section of the Hilandar monastery damaged in last year’s fire, Kostunica concluded.