THE SOUTH NEEDS PARTNERSHIP BELGRADE – The municipalities in southern Serbia need more partnership both within the Serbian and Albanian communities and between the two communities, since there are big divisions and a gap between the people, said Hans Ola Urstad, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

BELGRADE – On Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 1,300 first grade students of elementary schools in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja are going to get free school equipment, the value of which is 2 million and 800 thousand dinars. The donation was provided by the Coordination Body for the three municipalities. Each set of the school equipment contains a school bag, a pencil-box, six note-books, a drawing – pad, a ruler, a set of crayons, an abacus, a pencil-sharpener, an eraser and lead and ball - pens. The value of each set is 2,100 dinars. 

The certificate of the overall income of a family, which is issued by the local self-governmental body, is to be procured for the total income of family members during the first six months of 2009. Pupils that receive scholarships on other grounds can’t exercise the right to scholarship from this open competition.

President of the Coordination Body, Minister for Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic, stated that the Coordination Body for South Serbia was currently focused on education, judiciary, integration of the Albanians in institutions, establishment of multi-ethnic governments in Presevo and Bujanovac, as well as on building the infrastructure.

Ivica Dacic, the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs,  said yesterday that he had talked with Albanian leaders from South Serbia the week before, with the aim of maintaining political stability and security in the region. „The talks went off well and they should go on. I want our security units in South Serbia to have the understanding and support of South Serbia’s citizens. I also want us to jointly fight against crime and corruption, since it is in everybody’s interest,” said Mr. Dacic.