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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia ready for Eurobasket 2005

Belgrade, 2 November 2004

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who chaired today’s session of the Organising Committee of Eurobasket 2005, said the government will take a series of measures in order to make sure that everything is ready for the biggest international sports competition Serbia has hosted in 30 years.

Kostunica said that today’s meeting, which saw the newly appointed mayors of the cities involved in the organisation of the championship, was an opportunity to summarise what had been done to prepare for the event.

He said the organisation of the Diamond Ball basketball tournament, and the match between Serbia-Montenegro and the United States, was a final test for the European championship.

The prime minister said that the meeting also touched on measures the government and the organisers should take in order to meet FIBA’s stringent demands.

Kostunica stressed that Eurobasket 2005 will be the biggest competition hosted by Serbia in the past 30 years and that the race for the gold medal will be a close one, given that the tournament will see Europe’s top 16 national teams.

Eurobasket 2005 Director Predrag Bogosavljev said that the biggest task in the organisation of the championship is building infrastructure, that is basketball stadiums and hotels.

Kostunica announced that he will soon meet with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to discuss a possible joint candidacy of the former Yugoslav countries for the organisation of the world basketball championship in 2010.

He said the main rivals for the 2010 championship, Turkey and France, have been preparing for the event very seriously and that it would be good to boost Serbia-Montenegro’s candidacy by joining forces with Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

That would be a great opportunity to send a message to the world that the situation in the region, after 10 years of suffering, conflicts, and wars, is coming back to normal.

He said he had proposed that if the former Yugoslavia’s countries win the contest, the final match of the 2010 basketball championship should be played in Belgrade, while the games in the group stage of the tournament should be hosted by Novi Sad, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Sarajevo.