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Two-day talks of Belgrade, Pristina on Kosovo's decentralisation wrap up

Belgrade/Vienna, 21 February 2006

The talks on the decentralisation of Kosovo-Metohija, which mark the formal beginning of the negotiations of Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo's future status, wrapped up today at the Daun Kinsky Palace in Vienna.

Slobodan Samardzic, left, and Leon Kojen

Author: Reuters

Chairman of the negotiations Alber Raon said at a press conference held after the meeting that he is satisfied with the course of negotiations and that full accordance on many concrete issues has been reached.

Members of the Serbian negotiating team said that no formal agreements were made in the first round of talks between Belgrade and Pristina, but that there is consent on some issues.

Member of the Serbian negotiating team and the Serbian president's advisor Leon Kojen said that the first round of negotiations has been a good start, adding that there is no status with which Belgrade would be satisfied except for the re-integration of Kosovo-Metohija into Serbia, with the widest possible autonomy for the province.

A new meeting of the same delegations is to be held on March 17 in Vienna. In the meantime, UN experts will visit Belgrade and Pristina.

The issues of transfer of authority to municipal level in the fields of law enforcement, legislation and public companies were discussed at today's meeting, as well as social policy.

On February 20, the general principles of decentralisation of Kosovo-Metohija were discussed. Big differences in the views of Belgrade and Pristina on this topic were noticed.

Apart from Roan, representatives of the international community at this meeting were EU envoy for negotiations on Kosovo's future status Stefan Lehne, a US representative and two UNMIK representatives.

Belgrade's delegation consisted of the advisors to the Serbian President and the Prime Minister Leon Kojen and Slobodan Samardzic respectively, as well as political representatives of Kosovo Serbs Marko Jaksic, Goran Bogdanovic, Randjel Nojkic and Milorad Todorovic, economist Bosko Mijatovic and legal advisor of the Serbian negotiating team Thomas Fleiner.

The delegation from Pristina was headed by Minister of Local Self-Government Ljutfi Haziri, and its members are Kosovo president's advisor Skender Hiseni, publicist Bljerim Salja, representatives of political parties Enver Hodzaj, Fejmi Mujota, Adrijan Djini and Iljber Hisa, as well as Minister of Health Sadik Idrizi.