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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia offers widest substantial autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija

Belgrade/Brussels, 4 December 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic advocated today in Brussels at the conference themed "Balkan crossroads" the reaching of a compromise solution for Kosovo-Metohija and pointed to Serbia's flexible position in the negotiations.

Bozidar Djelic

Author: Fonet/EPA

In an open discussion with participants in the panel discussion on the future of the Western Balkans, Djelic said that the Serbian negotiating team offered substantial autonomy in the widest sense, which has not been given to any other minority in the world.

The conference was organised by Konrad Adenauer Foundation in cooperation with "Friends of Europe". Djelic said that the Western Balkans is the region with the highest economic growth in Europe and Serbia is the regional leader with the growth of 7.3% per year.

Djelic congratulated Bosnia and Herzegovina on initialling the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and underlined that Belgrade is the factor of regional stability and that it does not interfere in any way in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He said that the signing of SAA will encourage the democratic forces of Serbia to continue with reforms.

The problem of visa regime was identified at this meeting as one of the major challenges in the accession process of the western Balkan countries

Chairwoman of the European Parliament's Delegation to Southeastern Europe Doris Pack said that the European Union, and especially foreign ministries of the member states, must do much more concerning the visa liberalisation.

Djelic participated in the panel discussion together with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Co-Chairman of parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Carla del Ponte, Doris Pack, French Minister for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet and European Commission's Director-General for Enlargement Michael Leigh.

In a separate meeting with Carla del Ponte, Djelic said that Serbia will invest utmost efforts to complete cooperation with the ICTY and that it is doing its level best to arrest and hand over Ratko Mladic and all other indictees.