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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia will continue to express strong opposition to Kosovo independence

Belgrade, 22 July 2008

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said late yesterday that this Ministry will propose to the government that the Serbian ambassadors who were withdrawn from EU countries that recognised Kosovo’s unilaterally proclaimed independence, be returned to those countries in order to boost Serbia’s diplomatic capacities in its efforts to join the EU.

In a broadcast on Television B92, Jeremic said that the Ministry was very careful in weighing up this measure. Ambassadors will not be returned to other, non-EU countries that also recognised Kosovo's independence.

If we did that, we would send a signal that we have given up the fight for safeguarding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity and thus deprive ourselves of a very important resource of expressing diplomatic disagreement, the minister explained.

Jeremic said that the partially revised Action plan for Kosovo-Metohija remains in force, and Serbia will continue to express strong opposition to the province's independence in the EU countries the ambassadors will be returned to.

He said that he had consulted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on this issue since Serbia and Russia are the closest associates in the resolution of the Kosovo issue on the international political scene.

Russia strongly supports this step and that is part of our common Russian-Serbian strategy for safeguarding Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Jeremic said and added that the same goes for Serbia's participation at the UN General Assembly and the upcoming session of the UN Security Council.

Jeremic said that negotiations on reconfiguration of the UN international mission in Kosovo will start on July 23 and that Serbia will fight that the future mandate of that mission does not violate Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and that it is status neutral.

Speaking about today’s visit to Brussels, the minister said that the meetings with EU top officials will be an opportunity to examine possibilities for Serbia's quicker European integration so that it can obtain EU candidate status by the end of the year.