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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Serbia rejects any attempt at violent border re-cutting

St Petersburg/Belgrade, 9 June 2007

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica addressed the 11th International Economics Forum in St Petersburg today and said that Serbia fully and in advance rejects any attempt at violent and illegal re-cutting of its borders and at the same time insists that a solution be found for Kosovo-Metohija which will not question the founding principles of international law.

Vojislav Kostunica

Author: Tanjug

Kostunica said that the plan to open the road for the creation of an independent state of Kosovo on the territory of Serbia, which is an internationally recognised state, through the proposal of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari is a brutal example of an attempt to breach international law.

An even graver and more brutal example of this breach would be to declare unilateral independence of Kosovo-Metohija. That would be an act of direct breach of UN authority since it would mean open infringement of the effective UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which explicitly confirms Serbia’s sovereignty and teritorial integrity, stressed the Prime Minister.

According to Kostunica, Russia’s role would be decisive in the preservation of values and importance of the principles on which safety, peace and stability in this part of the world and Europe are founded.

Only Russia’s principled stance helped to foil the UN Security Council’s intention to vote for a resolution which would be a direct annihilation of the UN Charter and a basis to seize 15% of a country’s territory for the first time in history, said Kostunica.

He voiced pleasure at participation in the meeting in St Petersburg which in his opinion gathers its participants around the idea that economic cooperation should have the key role in the improvement of peace, stability, freedom, progress and respect of the universally accepted values and principles.

Serbia and my government completely accept the ideas promoted by the St Petersburg economic forum, emphasised the Prime Minister and voiced belief that international relations, and in this sense international economic relations as well, would be completely different if an international legal and political order, known to us since the foundation of the UN following World War II, had not been firmly integrated in the structure of the modern world.

The Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will meet today with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the 11th International Economics Forum.

Kostunica, who is heading a Serbian government delegation at the forum, said in a statement to the Russian Itar-Tas news agency that during his meeting with President Putin in St Petersburg he will put forward new ideas for the resolution of the Kosovo-Metohija status issue.

The Serbian government delegation includes ministers for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic and Trade and Services Predrag Bubalo, as well as foreign policy and media advisors Vladeta Jankovic and Srdjan Djuric.

Around 6,000 participants are expected to take part in the forum’s four plenary sessions and 12 round table discussions.

At the same time, an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States is being held, wherefore 10 presidents of the Commonwealth, 11 prime ministers, four vice-presidents and 64 ministers, together with 500 top managers of largest international companies have gathered in the city on the River Neva.