PRESS RELEASE – STATEMENT MADE BY ZORAN STANKOVIC

11. May 2013.

The government is absolutely interested in resolving the ethnic Albanian minority’s issues, said Zoran Stankovic, President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. He pointed out that all the issues would be dealt with through the institutions and at the pace required by law.

"In the presence of representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Ambassadors, I’ve personally visited these municipalities 10 times since February 23, and on those occasions I received many requests for addressing the vital issues of the people living in these areas. I wish to emphasize that the Coordination Body’s Office is in constant touch with the leaders of these municipalities, as well as that the team prepares opinions of the Ministries of the Serbian government on how and in what way is it possible to solve the issues from the requests of the Albanian leaders. Please note that the Coordination Body, on April 25, organized a fair of investment opportunities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was attended by all the mayors, along with their teams and companies from their municipalities, and they presented the investment opportunities of their municipalities to the government, the responsible ministry, state secretaries, 10 ambassadors, representatives of international institutions and interested investors. I emphasize that this is one of the points on which the Albanian leaders from South Serbia insisted the most in their demands, since there is no employment of young people without recovery and stimulation of the economy", said Mr. Stankovic.

Mr. Stankovic said it was unclear why the Albanian leaders were always unsatisfied with what had been done and added that he would continue to strive that regulations and laws be respected and enforced in the three municipalities in the way they are respected and enforced is in all other parts of Serbia.