PRIME MINISTER MIRKO CVETKOVIC OPENS FACULTY IN MEDVEDJA

The Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, in the presence of President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic, Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic, Deputy Chief of the US Mission to Serbia Troy Pederson, Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia Dimitrios Kypreos, representatives of the embassies of Greece, Austria and France to Serbia, President, Vice-President and professors of the Nis University, representatives of the districts, cities  and municipalities of South Serbia, as well as of students, opened, on October 12, 2009, the departments of the Nis University’s Faculties of Economics and Law in Medvedja, where students belonging to the Serbian and Albanian communities will attend classes in their native tongues.

„The opening of the departments of the aforementioned faculties in Medvedja is a strategic  step of the government in its efforts to speed up the development of the municipality,” said Mr. Cvetkovic. He pointed out that the opening of those departments offered new perspectives to students to learn and educate themselves in accordance with the European standards, while they can remain to live and work in the district. The Serbian Prime Minister reminded everyone that Albanians make up one fourth of the population in Medvedja, that the opening of the faculties was a key step towards solving problems in the municipality, the one that would contribute to integration of Albanians in the community. Prime Minister reiterated that Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja were faced with migration of the population, the insufficiently developed infrastructure and a high unemployment rate and added that the goal of the Serbian government was to change the situation for the better. The government’s priority is to invest in economy, Prime Minister said and underscored that he expected the reopening of the Lece mine and the reconstruction of the Leskovac – Medvedja road. Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic announced the preparation of a feasibility study on the opening of similar educational institutions in Presevo and Bujanovac.
 
President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic pointed out that the opening of the departments of the Faculties of Law and Economics in Medvedja was another proof of the Serbian government’s intention to provide the conditions in South Serbia for a better life of the citizens. Minister Markovic underscored that the departments wouldn’t have been opened without the partnership of the Ministry of Education, the goodwill of the Nis University, the financial assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that provided the funds for translation of the textbooks into Albanian, without the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and great efforts of everyone in the municipality of Medvedja. Mr. Markovic announced the final establishment of the National Council of the Albanian community, which is a prerequisite for living together with other ethnic communities in these multiethnic municipalities. He pointed out that the Serbian government had a uniform stand on the policy on Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and added that it had provided unreserved support to the Coordination Body. Mr.Markovic used this opportunity to once again underline that Belgrade had no problems with recognizing Pristina University degrees, unless the status of Kosovo and Metohija on them was presupposed. Minister Markovic also announced the opening of the Ombudsman’s permanent offices in those three towns, owing to which the manipulation of human rights would be avoided. President of the Coordination Body reiterated that the Serbian government had invested 158 million dinars in the building of infrastructure facilities in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, and added that another 68 million dinars would be invested by the end of the year and that the Ministry of National Investment Plan (NIP) had approved these days additional 76 million dinars for the projects in those three municipalities.
 
Matriculation books were delivered to students by Ministers Milan Markovic and Zarko Obradovic, as well as by Dean of the Faculty of Economics Ms. Evica Petrovic and by Coordinator of the Faculty of Law Zoran Ciric. On behalf of 50 freshmen, out of whom nine will study in Albanian, Razije Jakupi, a student of law, and Rade Petrovic, a student of economics, expressed their thanks. While addressing the attendees of the event, who overfilled the amphitheatre, Razije and Rade stressed that this was the only possibility for them to study. Apart from the youth from Medvedja, young people from the nearby Lebane, Bojnik and Leskovac, as well as those from Belgrade, enrolled in these two departments. One of them is Dejan Mladenovic, whose parents were born in Medvedja.

- I came here because I couldn’t’t qualify in Belgrade for studying on the national budget -  Mr. Mladenovic said.