ALBANIAN REPRESENTATIVES IN THE COORDINATION BODY AGAIN

27. March 2009.

BELGRADE, 27. March – The Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Government of Serbia Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Municipalities, Milan Markovic, Member of the Serbian Parliament, Riza Halimi, and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Hans Ola Urstad, signed the Agreement on Principles of Reconstruction of the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Municipalities.

In his statement, Milan Markovic, emphasized: „For all the leaders from South, for Riza Halimi and for myself, this is a huge opportunity to show that we trust in these principles, and it is the responsibility of all of us to implement what was signed, because that is what we owe to citizens of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja“. Markovic thanked all by saying „I truly thank all of those who assisted in making this Agreement possible. I would like to encourage all of the signatories by saying that we will succeed, because the success depends solely on us“.

The MP Riza Halimi expressed hope that this reconstruction of the Coordination Body will ensure that all the Government’s aims from 2001 are fulfilled, and those are economic development, integration of Albanians into Republic institutions, multiethnic local governments, peace and security in all the three municipalities.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Hans Ola Urstad, underlined that the process which resulted in signing of this Agreement demanded a lot of sacrifices from all sides. „It was necessary that reason prevails and that’s what happened. This is a good start. OSCE will not stop here, but will continue to participate in the process of implementation of this Agreement, and it is especially important to us to see what will happen in the Working Groups“, concluded Urstad.

The President of the Coordination Body, Milan Markovic, MP Riza Halimi, Presidents of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Municipalities, Nader Sadiku, Saip Kamberi and Slobodan Draskovic, President of the Municipal Assembly of Bujanovac, Jonuz Musliu, and Director of the Coordination Body, Nenad Djurdjevic, signed a Decision on Organization and Competencies of the Coordination Body.

The US Ambassador, Cameron Munter, as well as the representatives of the British Embassy in Belgrade were present at the signing ceremony. Participants also included the State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Slobodan Homen, Republic Ombudsperson, Sasa Jankovic, and Vice Presidents of the Coordination Body, Dusan Spasojevic, Dejan Jovanovic, and Sima Gazikalovic.