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State negotiating team will take a stance on Ahtisaari's modified proposal

Belgrade, 8 March 2007

Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Zoran Loncar said today that the state negotiating team will take a stance today concerning Martti Ahtisaari's modified proposal and that it will determine the composition of the Serbian delegation at the negotiations in Vienna that are to be held on March 10.

Zoran Loncar speaks at today's press conference

Speaking at a press conference held after the government session, Loncar said that the Serbian side will continue to be guided by Serbian parliament's Resolution and the new Constitution, stipulating that Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be preserved.

The Minister said that the Serbian delegation was very active and constructive at the previous round of talks in Vienna, adding that members of the state negotiating team proposed approximately 200 amendments to the first version of Ahtisaari's proposal.

He said that in the modified version of the proposal, there is no significant progress when it comes to Serbia's state interests. In this new version, Ahtisaari's positions and those of the Albanian side are completely harmonised.

Loncar said that at today's session, the government approved the annual working programme of the Privatisation Agency for 2007 and voiced hope that this will be the final year of privatisation in Serbia.

He said that the government adopted the Information on the implementation of the South East European Energy Treaty, whose aim is the subsequent inclusion into the EU energy market.

In Serbia, this treaty came into force on September 1, 2006. In order to secure its efficient implementation, a decision was made today to choose coordinators for monitoring its implementation.

According to Loncar, apart from the coordinator from the Ministry of Energy and Mining, coordinators will also be appointed from the ministries of science and environmental protection, finance, labour, employment and social policy, and a coordinator from the Commission for protection of competition.

At the same time, Loncar said that at today's session, the government adopted the Report "National Millennium Development Goals in the Republic of Serbia". He stated that the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000 which has been signed by Serbia and another 188 states.

The Minister said that in this report it is laid out how millennium goals are carried out in Serbia and what the outlook of their further development is. Some of the goals are the fight against poverty, availability of education to everyone, gender equality, reduction of infant mortality, improvement of the health of mothers and environmental protection.

Loncar said that a meeting of the Venetian Commission will be held on March 16 and 17 at which the new Constitution of Serbia will be discussed.

He voiced satisfaction with the fact that representatives of Serbia were invited to participate at this meeting in Venice and added that the Serbian government is yet to determine the composition of the Serbian delegation.

The priority of the Serbian delegation will be to show that with the adoption of the new Constitution, Serbia has become a modernly organised, legal and democratic state, Loncar pointed out.