January 22, 2010

22. January 2010.

The British embassy supports the establishment of the National Albanian Council in South Serbia, said yesterday Cathy Cottrell, First Secretary of the British Embassy in Belgrade. Mrs. Cottrell said for the Bujanovac press that she carefully followed and supported the process of establishment of National Councils, particularly of the one in South Serbia, since this is the way for the Albanian ethnic minority to get a chance to present all its potentials.

Mrs. Cottrell talked with Saip Kamberi, the president of the municipality, as well as with Jonuz Musliju, the president of the Municipal Assembly, about the issues of establishment of the National Councils and about the introduction of multi-ethnicity in the local self-government. She said that there were no obstacles to establishment of the Albanian National Council and added that the process of formation of the electoral roll for a direct election of the National Council was underway. Saip Kamberi said that he expected that a sufficient number of signatures for a direct election of the Albanian National Council would be collected by the end of March. „We also talked with representatives of the British embassy about the opening of one or two faculties in Serbian and Albanian languages in Bujanovac, for which a feasibility study is being conducted. It’s expected that the feasibility study should be completed by the end of January,” Mr. Kamberi said. He said that he asked representatives of the British embassy for assistance, so that the process could be speeded up and the faculty could be opened in Bujanovac as early as the next school year. He also added that the topics discussed included the establishment of a multi-ethnic self-government in Bujanovac.