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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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No agreement reached on protected zones for Serbian religious and cultural monuments in Kosovo-Metohija

Belgrade, 18 July 2006

In the seventh round of meetings between Belgrade’s and Pristina’s negotiating teams, no agreement was reached on the number and size of protected zones for Serbian religious and cultural monuments in Kosovo-Metohija.

Belgrade’s team presented a complete list of proposals for protected zones. Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Slobodan Samardzic said that the Belgrade delegation did not expect big results and that all three sides presented their stands and proposals today for the first time.

Now we exchanged opinions and information, said Samardzic noting that the problem cannot be solved in one day.

According to him, the discussion will resume at another level, and progress is shown by the very fact that both sides are aware of the subject matter of the talks.

President of the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Sanda Raskovic-Ivic stressed that in the previous round of talks Belgrade’s negotiating team proposed 42 locations as protected zones and this time the number of zones sought was 39, which is 3% of religious and cultural monuments in Kosovo, whereas the Albanian delegation and the UN Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the future status process for Kosovo (UNOSEK) offered protection for only 1%.

Director for political issues at UNOSEK Petar Ivancov, who presided over the meeting today, said that agreement was reached to continue talks. He also said that the meeting today focused almost entirely on protected zones.

I will not say that we made an agreement or that we did not make an agreement, Ivancov told journalists and added that international intermediaries came out with a proposal for the establishment of 15 protected zones, which is almost equal to the offer made by Pristina.

Advisor to the Serbian President Leon Kojen said that presentation of protected zones around Serbian churches, monasteries and cultural and religious buildings was predominant in today’s talks.

We saw UNOSEK’s presentation, which is very close to Pristina’s proposal and we presented a complete and evidenced list of protected zones, Kojen stressed.

Last time, we came up with a partial proposal on protected zones whereas this time we presented a detailed plan, he said and added that talks will resume at expert level, said Kojen.

According to Kojen, not even a principal agreement was reached on return of property to the Serbian Orthodox Church, where Belgrade came up with a fully compromising formula.