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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

UN General Committee accepts Serbia’s request

Belgrade/New York, 17 September 2008

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic confirmed this evening that the UN General Committee has accepted to include Serbia’s request to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence on the agenda for the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly.

In a statement for the Radio Television of Serbia, Jeremic said that the Committee’s decision to include Serbia’s demand on the agenda was unanimous.

We succeeded in getting the approval of 28 members of the General Committee, and even those countries voted that have recognised Kosovo’s independence. I think that this is a positive sign, but it is too early for celebration since there are several more steps to be taken before the request is officially presented before the ICJ.

He said that there was a heated debate at the Committee session and that this was one of the rare meetings at which it was not known in advance who will vote how.

The atmosphere created at the beginning of the session by representatives of certain countries that firmly advocated in favour of the Serbian initiative was of vital importance, said the Minister, adding that these countries included Spain, Argentina and Egypt, as well as a few others with whom Serbia has had intensive diplomatic contacts in order to gain their support.

Jeremic said that two exceedingly influential countries were against Serbia’s initiative that became isolated towards the end. He added that these countries reexamined their stance at the recommendation of the president, so that finally Serbia’s initiative was unanimously approved by the General Committee.

According to Jeremic, it is still not known when exactly Serbia’s initiative will be put to vote at the General Assembly session, which will be attended by a Serbian delegation headed by President Boris Tadic.

The UN General Committee consists of representatives of 28 countries; president of the 63rd session Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, 21 deputies and presidents of six main committees.

From the 28 countries, 22 have not recognised the independence of the southern Serbian province, but the members include the US, UK, the Netherlands, France, Hungary and Afghanistan.