MR. STANKOVIC AND GERMAN AMBASSADOR TALKED IN BUJANOVAC

29. October 2019.

Bujanovac – Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, and Thomas Schieb, the Ambassador of Germany to Serbia, agreed after the talks held in Bujanovac that the political situation was stable and stressed that they would work on encouraging investors from Germany to come to the southern part of central Serbia.

Mr. Schieb, the German Ambassador, said that the Serbian state authorities and the Albanian political representatives should continue talks on the seven-point Plan.

“We discussed the need for renewed discussions on the seven-point Plan in a constructive spirit, and that progress in that direction was needed. We are pleased that an agreement on introducing textbooks in the Albanian language has been reached and I hope that the activities in that spirit will continue to be undertaken, " Ambassador Schieb said.

The German Ambassador called the talks on the document, in which Albanian demands, such as economic development, full integration into state institutions, official use of the language, script and national symbols and recognition of diplomas, were listed "a local-level dialogue that should be viewed separately from the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.”

By the way, the plan was adopted by the Government of Serbia and the talks, with the support of the international community, began in 2013, but were soon interrupted.

"It is as if there is an intention and desire to continue the talks, but only in words. In the end, it turned out that the state interrupted the talks, and not the local Albanians, who actually withdrew from the talks. We now expect and ask them to move forward with the realization of the plan, for we will have local problems until what has been agreed with the Albanians on the 7 points has been resolved, "said Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

Mr. Stankovic stressed that all the activities were carried out in the presence of the international community.

“Because the international community will be, and is, the party in the talks that will confirm what has been discussed and what decisions have been reached. It should be said that the existing requirements and problems of the local self-governments in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja are solved on a daily basis,” Mr. Stankovic said.

The President of the Coordination Body proposed to Ambassador Schieb that, as he said, a group of German businessmen should come to that area to talk to representatives of the local self-governments about possible investments, adding that they had agreed with the Ambassador that employment, or economic situation, was one of the largest problems in those municipalities.

“His Excellency will inform the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce of this initiative and it will be discussed it in the coming period, “Mr. Stankovic said.

It was assessed at the meeting that the political situation and inter-ethnic relations were stable.

Source: Bujanovac News and Coordination Body