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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Jeremic seeks EU support for signing SAA

Belgrade, 17 October 2007

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic called upon ambassadors of all EU member states in Belgrade to seek political support from their respective countries for urgent initialling of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), so that it could be signed by the end of the year.

Following a meeting with ambassadors, Jeremic told the press that this meeting was the first of its kind and will now be held regularly once a month.

The Serbian government is fully committed to a European future for the country, and completely understands all conditions and is ready to cooperate with the Hague tribunal, said Jeremic.

He stressed that Serbia concluded negotiations on the SAA in record time and the only problem now is cooperation with the tribunal, which is a political question.

He told the ambassadors that Serbia is completely committed to the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija and it is necessary to reach a compromise.

It is hard to imagine a European future for the West Balkans if there is no compromise, said Jeremic and added that it would be ideal if the solution for this issue is found by December 10, and in case of failure to do so, the issue should be resolved as soon as possible.

He said that Belgrade has still not received an official invitation for the upcoming talks on Kosovo-Metohija to be held in Vienna, but is expecting it to arrive tomorrow or on Friday at the latest.

Jeremic pointed to the fact that talks scheduled to take place on October 22 in Vienna will be at ministerial level as in Brussels, and the Belgrade delegation will be led by Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic and himself.

He said that talks in Vienna are the logical continuation of the round in Brussels, which was held on October 14, mediated by the Contact Group’s troika of envoys.

According to Jeremic, the upcoming round of talks in Vienna was not specifically discussed at today’s meeting.

He said that today the negotiating process was discussed in general categories in the sense that the EU supports this process and the efforts to find a compromise, and their stand is that legitimacy for such a solution should be sought in the UN Security Council.

The Minister said that he expects understanding from the EU and its representative in the troika Wolfgang Ischinger, for Serbia’s position that a compromise must be found. He voiced hope that the Croatia’s election as non-permanent member of the Security Council should contribute to better understanding for the problems in the West Balkans when issues connected to the region are discussed in the council.

Jeremic said that he is extremely satisfied with the fact that Costa Rica was elected non-permanent member of the Security Council, since Serbia supports the candidacy of this country.

He recalled that Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Ugarte was among the first to visit Belgrade following the formation of the Serbian government, and it was then that Serbia pledged support to the candidacy of Costa Rica for a seat in the Security Council.