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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia needs no new UN SC resolution before resuming talks on Kosovo-Metohija

Belgrade, 21 June 2007

Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic stated today that Serbia does not need a new UN Security Council resolution before the talks on Kosovo-Metohija resume, particularly not a resolution imposing deadlines on the talks and prejudicing their outcome.

In a statement to the Tanjug news agency, Samardzic said that if a resolution is to be made in the end, it would have to result from the talks and the already achieved compromise solution between Belgrade and Pristina.

According to Samardzic, the talks cannot be limited in time and defined in advance by some stance on the acceptance of Ahtisaari’s proposal or on the province’s independence as the outcome of the talks.

The Minister said that the further course of events will greatly depend on talks between the American and Russian presidents, George Bush and Vladimir Putin, respectively, scheduled for early July.

It would be good if the matter moves towards normal preconditions for a solution, and that is an agreement on negotiations which would not be determined by a previously made decision and which would lead to compromise, explained Samardzic and added that neither the Russian nor Serbian side is asking too much, but only normal conditions for talks.

The US diplomatic intervention will be necessary in order to have representatives of provisional authorities in Pristina agree to continue the talks with Belgrade.

Only the US can bring the Albanian side round to the negotiating desk. They haven’t paid any attention to any of our solutions in the past year. They can be persuaded to resume talks only by the USA, and that, in turn, can be done only on the basis of its fair agreement with Putin, that is, the Russian side, explained Samardzic.

Speaking about the draft US-European resolution presented yesterday at the UN headquarters, the Minister said that this text brings nothing new in comparison with the previous two drafts and is unacceptable both for Belgrade and Moscow.

He pointed out that the new draft resolution is not encouraging the Albanian side to negotiate but is giving it a misguiding signal that they should only wait three months until the final decision is made, while all the time they are being guaranteed that the final decision, monitored independence of Kosovo-Metohija, will be accepted by Serbia and Russia.

Samardzic also voiced hope that the Albanian side will agree to resume the talks and will not decide in favour of a unilateral act, such as unilateral declaration of independence.

We place our hopes in what representatives of the international community and NATO, who are responsible for stability in the province, have said and that is that everything is under control, stressed the Minister.

He emphasised that Serbia is prepared for any possible scenario but added it is much closer to a peaceful and negotiating process than riots and violent actions.