20 November 2002

CONTENTS

Final status to be determined in accordance with Resolution 1244 (all dailies)

"I don't know when the status of Kosovo will be resolved. As for the situation in Mitrovica it is unsatisfactory and measures are being taken," UN SG Kofi Annan said before ending his two-day visit to Kosovo, report all dailies.

"From discussions I had with Mr. Steiner, I understood that certain measures are being taken to redress this issue," he said. Asked when the status would be resolved, he was quoted as saying, "I cannot say precisely when this will happen."

"Kosovo's final status will be solved in accordance with Resolution 1244 after the fulfillment of certain standards set out by chief administrator Steiner," said Annan. "I think that we have progressed. Mr. Steiner has set out those standards and we believe that work will be done towards fulfilling them."

Annan said that he was not fully satisfied with the situation in Mitrovica. "From the discussions I had with Mr. Steiner, I have understood that certain concrete measures are being undertaken," he said and announced he would discuss the issue with officials in Belgrade, his next stop on this Balkans tour.

"I believe that we can do as we have promised, to place legitimate structures in northern Mitrovica. However, I think this is not the time for words; it is time to get ready," said Michael Steiner, not giving any explanations about such preparations.

Kofi Annan visited the divided town of Mitrovica. Under very tight security Annan went by helicopter from Pristina to the French KFOR base and afterwards they went to the UNMIK Police station in northern Mitrovica. Mr. Annan, his wife Nane and Mr. Steiner met with KPS Commander Col. Sheremet Ahmeti and several KPS cadets stationed at the police station in northern Mitrovica. He stressed that the aim of UNMIK Police is to bring the rule of law.

UN SG Kofi Annan accompanied by his wife Nane, UNMIK chief administrator Michael Steiner, SRSG's advisor on returns Nenad Radosavljevic and Gjilanë/Gnjilane MA President Lutfi Haziri visited village of Gornji Makres.

"This is a specific case where people have learned that they have to live together, making effort to leave the past behind and live together respecting one other. I believe that a multiethnic Kosovo is something that we have all been working on," he said, expressing his belief that his Special Representative is doing a lot in this direction.

"I know you have had a difficult past here and indeed a painful one, but this should not deter you from attempting to get together. This pluralism and this respect for diversity that prevails in Europe is what you are hoping to join," said Annan.

He said he was very impressed with the two young local leaders who were accompanying him. "I am particularly impressed to see young people play a leadership role here. The two mayors are very young and dynamic and I think they are setting a good example," he said after the visit to the health center and the primary school in which a sign still reads: Republic of Serbia, Autonomous Province of Kosovo.

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Will Annan's visit influence in shedding light on missing and kidnapped? (Kosova Sot)

Mothers of missing and kidnapped tried in many ways to raise the awareness of the locals and internationals to get them to shed light of their loved ones who are missing. They organized dozens of protests, hunger strikes, not to play with their feelings but to seriously work in finding their loved ones, reports Kosova Sot.

On the Monday UN SG Kofi Annan visited Kosovo, mothers of the missing staged a protest in front of UNMIK HQ, demanding that light be shed on the fate of the missing. Mrs. Annan met with Kosovo Women's Initiative and was very touched by the stories of the kidnapped persons, but will Annan's visit help in shedding light on the fate of those kidnapped, asks Kosova Sot.

"The Serb government has information on the missing persons, but is hiding this information," said President of the Parliamentary Commission on Missing Persons Flora Brovina. "I met Monday with Mrs. Nane Annan, who is an activist for human rights and women's rights at the UN in New York; and she expressed interest in the problem of women. I handed her all the necessary documents, with statements from family members of missing persons as to where their loved ones could be," she said.

"I believe that Annan's visit will have influence in shedding light on the missing and kidnapped, because from talks that we had with Mrs. Annan and the statement by Kofi Annan to family members of the missing, it can be seen that he has a clear approach to the problem of missing persons. I hope he will apply pressure on Belgrade," she said.

KMDLJN executive director Behxhet Shala said that the issue of the missing preoccupies them most. "We have done everything possible, but we aren't the ones who can force the Serb government to shed light on missing persons who were taken by Serb military forces," he said, and added, "Kofi Annan had the chance to be engaged in New York and there was no need for him to come to Kosovo for this. He has the necessary mechanisms to force those who kidnapped to provide an explanation." He said he doesn't believe this visit will have any influence on the fate of the missing.

OSCE monitors Assembly, Povratak deputies stop boycott (Zëri)

Zëri carries a report, which says that Kosovo Assembly chairmanship decided to postpone the next plenary session scheduled for this Thursday by a week. Zëri also says that after chief administrator's decision that OSCE observers should monitor the Assembly work, Serb Assembly deputies decided to end the boycott of the assembly. Both Zëri and Koha Ditore say that Assembly speaker's [Nexhat Daci] political and media advisor, Ramush Tahiri, said that the speaker's office hadn't received anything from Michael Steiner.

This daily reports that UN SG Kofi Annan yesterday supported the decision. Zëri quotes UN SG Kofi Annan as saying that the 'OSCE should perform some kind of monitoring and this shouldn't be considered as an imposition, but as something that would help things go as they should and I hope that all sides and all deputies will work'. Talking about minorities, he said that they were not simply an Assembly decoration, but their presence should be respected. SRSG has great experience of parliamentary procedures and they can be beneficial to Kosovo's Assembly.

Zëri and Koha Ditore report that Povratak coalition leader Rada Trajkovic said yesterday to Serbian media that after SRSG Steiner's decision on OSCE monitors being present in the Assembly, she would ask Serb deputies to return to the Assembly. Trajkovic said that UN SG Kofi Annan pleaded with Serb deputies to return to Assembly, but she threatened that if Assembly chairman Daci continues to behave arrogantly and with Povratak deputies, they will leave the Assembly and will not return until his resignation or dismissal.

Zëri also quotes Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Covic as saying 'the Kosovo Assembly cannot make any valid decisions, without participation of the Povratak deputies". The daily says that according to Kosovo Serbs' 'lawyer', Covic, the Serbian government, on the basis of the Constitutional Framework and the Assembly's rules of procedure, had asked for OSCE to monitor the work of this institution, adding that Steiner had sent a letter to Nexhat Daci to inform him about monitoring of Assembly work by OSCE.

Zëri says that Povratak deputies boycotted Assembly work because Rada Trajkovic announced that they would not return until chairman Daci apologized for discriminating against Serb deputies. The daily says that Povratak deputies Ivanovic and Savic attended the meeting of the Assembly Presidency and according to Daci's advisor Tahiri "didn't make any remark or disagree with other members of the Assembly Presidency". "We all agreed that the material for the next session should be prepared by some commission and there should be a biography of each candidate for the post of judge or prosecutor. The Kosovo Assembly can then approve or disapprove their names,' Tahiri said.

Tahiri further said that the session foreseen for Thursday was delayed because draft bills were not ready. Be as it may, Tahiri didn't know whether or not Serb deputies returned to the Assembly because of the chief administrator's decision on OSCE monitoring. Tahiri told this daily that the Assembly chairman's office hadn't received any letter on this issue from SRSG Michael Steiner.

Responding to the Povratak president's announcement on OSCE monitoring at the Assembly, Tahiri was quoted as saying the "Assembly work is based on Constitutional Framework and its regulation of work, and it is not foreseen there for OSCE to have an obligatory role in controlling the work of this organ".

It is supposed that Steiner's decision for the OSCE to monitor the Kosovo Assembly, proclaimed by Trajkovic and Covic, was the UNMIK chief's move to unblock the situation in order to convince Serbs to return to the Assembly and to get around a Daci apology to Trajkovic since it seems unlikely Daci would be unwilling to apologize, "especially because this was only a pretext to blackmail the work of this organ", according to Zëri.

Koha Ditore says that the monitoring will form the basis for the return of Serb deputies to the Assembly. The paper cites what it claims to be Steiner's letter to Daci, as follows, "In order to assure that the Assembly sessions will be in accordance with the Constitutional Framework, I have asked the OSCE to establish a mechanism that would follow Assembly sessions. This will be done in full accordance with the Constitutional Framework and the permanent regulation of the work of the Assembly."

An unnamed Assembly official was cited as saying that the return of Povratak members represents a policy defeat for the Serbs. "Now they are in a bad position because they said they wouldn't return without an apology," he said, and added that they must return because it is "shameful to boycott the Assembly for a single apology and now they tell the public they have achieved a compromise and make excuses by saying that the OSCE will monitor the Assembly".

OSCE spokesman Alexandre Benz said, "We are beginning of the work of finding the most suitable person for this job," and he added that OSCE officials are in constant contact with the SRSG and that an appropriate solution to the issue would be found. The OSCE's chief spokesman, Poul Smidt, reportedly said that Steiner's letter doesn't include a job description but that an international would be appointed.

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Shala: OSCE verifiers at Kosovo's Assembly (Zëri)

Zëri carries an editorial by Blerim Shala who says that no benefit is expected from SRSG's latest decision on OSCE observers at the Kosovo Assembly. According to Shala, this act will contribute to reopening "irrational discussions full of tension". Shala wrote:

The Kosovo Assembly will have OSCE verifiers. This is, at least, what appears from UNMIK chief Michael Steiner's latest decision. Thus, from now on, the work of the Kosovo Assembly will be observed by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo [OMiK]. Cynics would say that [OMiK] would have something to work from now on after all. Another news item was added to this one: Serb deputies will return to the Assembly. They had left the Assembly unsatisfied with the mode in which works were developing there. Now they announced return and some new threats.

UNMIK officials have their own public arguments, as well as unofficial ones, for undertaking this act, in the period when talks about the necessity of dynamism of the process of transferring competencies from UNMIK to Kosovar government are intensifying. This decision is a step backwards (and vicious, we would add) and certainly it would contribute to reopening discussions full of tension and with little rationality for the role of Kosovar structures and their relations with UNMIK. Also, Albanian circles that are critical anyway of the Kosovar government and its deputies could make use of such an act. As a counter reaction Albanian officials will try to raise their voices and strike their tables and mention their dignity.

No benefit is expected from this. But this time it is known who was the first to make the unmeasured wrong step.

M. Ivanovic: I didn't escape, I went out of the main entrance (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore carries an interview with Milan Ivanovic, leader of Serbs in northern Kosovo. During the interview, Ivanovic denied that he had escaped from the police when they tried to arrest him on 8 August 2002; he claims he never did anything wrong and that he wants to see Mitrovica as a united town and integrated together with 'Kosovo and Metohija' in Euro-Atlantic integration.

Ivanovic told Koha the indictment raised against him was 'politically motivated'. "This is about an indictment with political motives which has already been reviewed," he said.

He blamed the police for the incident in April in northern Mitrovica when 22 international policemen were injured. He claimed he arrived at the site a half hour later since he was working. "During the incident, as it is said, 21 international policemen were injured, and I know there were only slight injuries, whereas no one mentions the 14 Serb citizens who were injured by the police. After a professional examination, the indictment against me was refuted so the international prosecutor had to withdraw this indictment and move to another. Now he is charging me with participating in and organizing the incident," said Ivanovic. "UNMIK Police provoked the incident. According to the testimonies of many eyewitnesses, they have tried to arrest a person by using teargas and then the Serb citizens reacted by throwing stones. It is clearly an act aimed at intimidating Serbs, especially those involved in politics, to give up from their positions and demands."

Elaborating on the videotapes presented as evidence in the first hearing, Ivanovic said 'they clearly show that I didn't throw the hand grenade, even though the police tried to bring these videotapes as evidence. It can be seen that the videotapes of the police were done in an amateur way.' He says that famous experts from international faculties proved the undeniable and therefore the prosecutor's office was forced to withdraw from the indictment and allow him to defend himself in freedom.

Ivanovic also said that the second indictment is also illogical and that he was going to refute it. "As far as I know, the videotapes were from Reuters, RTS, UNMIK Police, KFOR and RTK…many videotapes which after thorough analysis proved that it was not a bomb."

"During these years, I never had problems with the law; I didn't participate in the events during NATO air raids; I was neither a policeman nor a soldier nor mobilized. I was in the hospital the entire time and these things prove that I cannot be the person described in the indictment," said Ivanovic. Referring to the entire process as "framed" and a "provocation", he said it was very similar to the action of special police units in municipal offices in northern Mitrovica on Thursday.

Ivanovic claims that many negotiations and plans have been proposed for Mitrovica, between UNMIK and the Yugoslav and Serb governments. He also denied being the creator of the oft-mentioned plan for a 'Serb autonomous region'. "There are many plans for Mitrovica. There is Steiner's strategy and his seven-point plan, and then there are also talks between Steiner and…Covic. I have information that some frameworks and plans have been established and some issues still have to be discussed," he said, adding that the negotiations should also include the true representatives of Kosovo Serbs.

"I think that there can be an agreement suitable for everyone and which would not damage anyone. We were engaged in the partition of Mitrovica, because we believe that Mitrovica can be a united town, but, as we demand, comprised of two or three municipalities as in European cities, where the authority should be given to the local level… I know nothing about any plan for a Serb autonomous region and neither does the Serb National Council."

Ivanovic reportedly said about Mitrovica that 'that is the smallest problem'. "The problem should be resolved at the Kosovo level and then there will be a solution for Mitrovica. Mitrovica is the smallest problem, because it is the only multiethnic town in Kosovo, as foreseen in Resolution 1244," he said and added that other cities are "more problematic", because "many non-Albanians have been expelled from there, and there is no safety and freedom of movement for all the citizens of 'Kosovo and Metohija'".

Koha Ditore also reports that Ivanovic is upset because Kosovo media are comparing his case with the trial of the Dukagjini Group, when it comes to allowing someone to defend himself on bail. "It is not good to draw parallels between my release and the Dukagjini Group case, because this is about completely different issues…the trial of this group is still ongoing," concluded Ivanovic.

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Surroi: Path toward Europe goes through Washington (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore carries speech that its publisher, Veton Surroi, gave at the "Furture of Kosovo" conference ongoing in Washington. What follows is Surroi's speech in its entirety:

The elected Kosovar authorities and UNMIK are living under mutually impeding terms. UNMIK's job definition is to ensure that democratic self-rule is established and that this form of governance will enter a negotiation about Kosovo's final status. But within its description of competencies, it has so far reserved decision making, and even day to day administration, over the Kosovar budget, security, cooperation with neighbors and the EU, main segments of publicly owned segments of economy (energy and telecommunications), and the court system. With this, UNMIK is doing less toward strengthening Kosovar institutions and more to strengthen itself.

The Kosovar administration's job definition is to build self-rule with the help of UNMIK, and through self-rule show that it is ready to enter status talks. However, Kosovar authorities, already limited by UNMIK in its decision-making, have further limited themselves in their decision making through lack of political leadership, both in vision and action. This year, it will be remembered that it was only under SRSG Michael Steiner's decisive intervention that a government was formed, three months after the election, and also the fact that the Parliament has so far passed three or four laws out of a possible total of one thousand that Kosovo needs to function as a legal entity. By engaging less in its own job and more outside provocations (border delimitation with Macedonia, issue of preamble of the Serb-Montenegrin constitution) the Kosovar authorities are feeding the self-sustainability of UNMIK and its increase in use of reserved powers.

To add further to this picture are the representatives of the Serbs, especially in the northern enclave of Kosova, whose job description so far, devised in Belgrade, has been to show the inability of both UNMIK and the Kosovar authorities to govern a whole and undivided Kosova.

Three years of such an attitude towards governance has actually created lack of governance, with the standard byproducts such as culture of impunity, corruption and, ultimately, lack of faith by the population in the democratic process as seen by a low turnout in the past municipal elections.

2. The status question continues to be fully enclosed in layers of paradoxes. Most of the Kosovar Albanians claim that without status, no further advances can be made in governance, but UNMIK's and Western diplomats evaluation is that the Kosovar authorities have substantially much more to show in governance capability before the status talks can be opened. Of course, in the Serb enclaves, life has more or less been paralyzed through Serb parallel governance waiting for the moment of status talks, in which these enclaves will hope to enter as a separate Serb territorial entity.

All in all, the status question has been used more to evade responsibilities of governance than actually to create an atmosphere and conditions for resolving the issue of status.
The bottom line, though, is that neither the question of democratic governance, nor for that matter the question of status, will be advanced with the present, paralyzing path Kosova has taken.

3. The debate about Kosovo's future is clearly delimited by the fact that the question of democratic governance and the question of status are mutually dependent, or as we have seen in these three years, mutually impeding.

Strategically, Kosovo needs the following notions introduced into the debate:
a) the question of democratic governance cannot advance any further if there is not a clearer definition of issues that do not prejudge status. Namely, the Kosovar authority should have full control over all issues short of the establishment of relations with other states. This basically means assuming responsibility for all issues in the day to-day affairs that UNMIK has, while, at the same time, having UNMIK being in a macro-managerial position. None of the issues that UNMIK controls today, with the exception of signing of contracts with other states, are actually issues that prejudge status, since the reality on the ground created over the years and, most importantly, by the war that ended in 1999 is that the status issue is about whether Kosovo will be an internationally recognized state or not, and not whether it will be a state.

Such an attitude would put the full weight of responsibility on the Kosovar institutions and, importantly, create a system of accountability for them, which is presently lacking since UNMIK is a non-elected authority.

b) the question of democratic governance and solution for status issues will not advance
if there is not a clearer definition of what the status of Kosovo won't be. Namely, the past decade in Kosovo, the disintegration of Tito's, and now Milosevic's, Yugoslavia, especially that the war has created a reality for the majority of its citizens, that Kosovo can, by no, return to Belgrade rule.

This issue is not so much needed to comfort Kosovar Albanians as to help redefine the policies of Kosovar Serbs. More than the question of security, the parallel system of governance in Kosovo in the Serb enclaves lives because of the projected attitude that there will be a return of Belgrade authorities to the territory of Kosovo.

Beyond this policy lies a double challenge: for the Serbs, a way to create a vision of positive discrimination as part of integration in the Kosovar society; for the Kosovar Albanians, a way to create that same vision of integration as an honest offer.

c) the question of democratic governance and status will not advance unless there is a clear path to what the post-status will be. It is difficult to show the path to status, because that would be showing status itself. Naturally, talking about the definition of status today has the same paralyzing effect as it has had in the past and probably, with the vacuum in governance today, would hinder more than it would help. But the situation after the imaginary status (whatever it is) can be designed with high probability today. And that is that Kosovo will be part of the expanded EU. If such is the case, there is no reason why Kosovo today could not enter the political dynamic of a rehearsing candidate or, if you will, a virtual candidate of the EU.

The same would go for NATO; and there is no reason why even with these conditions there should not be a debate in our society about the future doctrine of Kosovo's place in the Western world's military and political alliance.

Adopting post-status policies would in fact have three substantial effects: it would help both UNMIK and Kosovar institutions focus on clearly measurable advances in quality of governance; it would help pave an easier way for the resolution of the status issues, especially if there is consensus being built in Serbia about the eventual inclusion of this country in the EU; ultimately it will find Kosovo following a European pattern of governance once the status issue is solved, whatever the outcome is.

4. The path to Europe, however strange it may sound on the surface, also goes through Washington. I think all of us are aware in our society of the enormous engagements of the US in the immediate future in the Middle East and Central Asia, engagements that will require resources for a longer period of time.

Understanding this policy priority, I think also that it is in US interest that it's very great investment in the Balkans, especially in Kosovo, be rounded up by a stable outcome, one in which the process of state-building in Kosovo finds its needed end. Today this basically means taking the lead in reassessing the present policies and Kosova and trying to build consensus on more efficient ways in which both democratic governance and resolution of the status can be further and faster advanced.

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Ibrahim Rexhepi: Resignation (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore carries a commentary by economic columnist Ibrahim Rexhepi, who claims that scandals took place at the Kosovo Electric Corporation, the Kosovo Post and Telecom, the Customs Service and at the Prishtina Municipal Assembly but that the people responsible never handed in their resignations. 'However, there were no dismissals either. Kosovo is entering a moral crisis,' added Rexhepi. The entire text of the commentary reads, as follows:

Despite the people's numerous remarks and criticisms against companies and institutions in Kosovo, the situation hasn't changed a bit. Chaos continues, whereas the people that created this system are growing more powerful… and are also protected by certain local and UNMIK structures. The first case: Huge scandals were made public at the Kosovo Post and Telecom (PTK). There were talks about frigid relations among company leaders, of staff policy being decided in Prishtina coffee bars, of mysterious relations with Monaco Telecom, but the consequences were only suffered by the 'disobedient', those who asked for more transparency. The tip of the iceberg of the tragicomedy called PTK was reached at the Kosovo Assembly, when company executives said they were not in a mood to listen to the criticism of 'unauthorized and uninformed people'.

The second case: When Sharr Pllana, the top official of the Cadastre and Geodesy Service in Prishtina, was arrested, his superiors said that this was a matter for the police and the courts. "We have nothing to do with his guilt," said the bosses of Prishtina at that time, the same people who want to remain in power for the next four years.

The third case: The burning of the two main pillars of the Kosovar power supply system, the Kosovo B power plants, remains a deed of God. He punished them, while none of the responsible officials was to blame. In fact, the situation in this respect hasn't change a bit since August this year.

The fourth case: God punished the coalmine in Bardh i Madh/Belacevac. No is responsible. At least, that's what the reports say.

The fifth case: Corruption and irresponsibility revealed at the Kosovo Customs Service. However, work continues as if nothing ever happened.

Kosovo is a victim of the irresponsibility of the competencies of its main institutions. In fact, in this respect, we shouldn't make any distinction between internationals and locals. Everyone is involved in this chaos: theft, destruction of property, nonchalant behavior toward serious problems, and the 'loss' of huge areas of social land…

Kosovo is truly entering a moral crisis.

The companies, which in the first days after the war were regarded as public property, were never without authorized mechanisms for supervision. It was mainly installed within UNMIK and was the most authoritative structure for the problems of a company. This means that it should have prevented anarchy, or punished individuals in certain posts who were behaving in an authoritative manner. However, this mechanism never functioned, even when it had plenty reasons to say 'stop'. Numerous frauds happened right in front of them, but they shut their eyes. There were promises that the Kosovo Trust Agency would have control over the situation. The KTA is responsible for the managers, and later it will determine the owners and the ownership status of the companies. However, being caught up in the modalities of privatization, the KTA is not listening to the voices telling of numerous irregularities, the chaos at PTK, the 'basic accidents' at KEK…

With such behavior, the Kosovo Trust Agency is defending people whose names are associated with irresponsibility. The KTA doesn't have the right to do this. It should at least say whether or not accusations against numerous companies and managers are true. If the truth happens to be different, then KTA should come out with the evidence and offer more transparency.

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UN will have the main role in solving the process of Kosovo status (Bota Sot)

Bota Sot carried the following interview with Stability Pact chief, Dr. Erhard Busek.

In mid-1999, based on the plan by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a 'Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe' was decided on. Do you believe that Fischer's plan should have been a 'Marshall Plan' for the Balkans, similar to the one for post-war Germany?
I don't think it should be compared with the Marshall Plan. The aid from the Marshall Plan was for rebuilding. The case in Southeastern Europe is development. If we are to compare, then [it should be with] the Helsinki Conference and the Conference on Security Cooperation in Europe that is now called OSCE. At that time, it was 'three baskets' while the Stability Pact discusses three working tables. In principle, it is the same thing. Democratization, economic development and security should go hand in hand and these three fields should improve in parallel.

The citizens of Kosovo are grateful for aid given by Stability Pact. How has Stability Pact helped post-war Kosovo?
From the beginning, Kosovo and Montenegro were tied to the Stability Pact. While Yugoslavia, Serbia, came along later. Our goal is developing regional cooperation. Kosovo is participating in 30 projects. However, the biggest part of aid that Kosovo is receiving doesn't go through the Stability Pact; it is received directly.

What do you think of economic situation in Kosovo and what are your evaluations?
In Kosovo, as in all of Southeast Europe, the economy is a big challenge. Our goal is for Kosovo to join the existing free trade system. With this, trade would become easier. Together with UNMIK, we are trying to find a pragmatic solution.

Europe is playing an important role in Kosovo but it is still facing great unemployment. Do you believe that foreign investments will lessen unemployment and the grave economic situation?
It is a fact that private European investors see Southeastern Europe as a whole trade zone. Therefore, it's important for Kosovo to integrate into this economic zone. Investors don't rely only on a big market, but also on the issue of property, the educational level of the population and other factors. It's very difficult to promise investments. It is of utmost importance to improve framework conditions for investors.

Kosovo status remains an open issue. For the time being, Kosovo is administered by UN Security Resolution 1244 while most of the population thinks about independence. How do you see the political process on the issue of the final status and what are the preconditions that Kosovo must fulfill to resolve this issue?
The UN will play the central role in this process, 1244 is a UN Security Resolution. Stability Pact cannot play a big role in this. I believe that the SRSG's strategy 'Standards before Status', is the right path. This is my answer to this question.

Do you believe that the west is responsible for finding a solution for Kosovo's future?
Not only the west but also the international community; the UN Security Council will discuss this issue. Dialogue between governments in the region is also important, especially the dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade.

You have promised that you will continue to help Kosovo. What aid, plans and projects does Stability Pact have in mind for Kosovo and the region?
This will be generalized and it is possible that Kosovo would be included in many activities on regional basis. This has to go on until Kosovo status is still an open issue. However, one thing cannot change: geography remains the same, neighbors will remain neighbors…

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Chinese businessmen ready to invest in Kosovo (Zëri)

Zëri reports that a Chinese delegation met yesterday with PM Rexhepi and expressed their readiness to invest in Kosovo. PM Rexhepi briefed the delegation on the current situation in Kosovo and discussed possibilities for capital investment by Chinese businesses in Kosovo's economic development.

According to international consultant Yuan Zhao, Chinese businesses are ready. 'We have concrete plans for investments,' Zëri quotes Zhao as saying, and he also explained that they planned to invest in Kosovo's industry.