10 June
The newly appointed
Senior Advisor in the Office of Returns and Communities - Mr Nenad Radosavljevic,
40, former President of the Leposavic Municipal Assembly and former
member of the Kosovo Assembly - took up his job in UNMIK Headquarters.
Among his chief responsibilities will be advising UNMIK on ways to foster
economic development related to the returns of displaced persons and
the integration of minorities. He will be playing an important role
in helping shape policies aimed at facilitating returns and integration
of ethnic minorities into mainstream society in Kosovo. SRSG Michael
Steiner welcomed the arrival of Mr Radosavljevic. "With my Senior
Advisor now in the office, and with the Inter-Ministerial Coordinator
on Returns having been named, we can begin to make serious progress
on the issue of returns - truly sustainable returns - as well as on
ways to better integrate non-majority communities into Kosovan society,"
he said. "I am delighted to have Mr Radosavljevic at my side to
improve our prospects for creating a multiethnic and integrated Kosovo."
12 June
Members of the Kosovo
Government took the oath of office, thus marking the completion of the
executive. In a ceremony, conducted in the presence of SRSG Michael
Steiner and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, the Ministers of the Government
and the Inter-Ministerial Co-ordinator for Returns took the oath, pledging
themselves to uphold the law, the institutions of Kosovo and the functions
of office "in the best interests of all the inhabitants of Kosovo
without discrimination on any ground". In his remarks, SRSG Michael
Steiner said that it was "deeply satisfying that on exactly the
third anniversary of the arrival of the international community in Kosovo,
we are here to mark the completion of the multiethnic government of
Kosovo. We are in the process of transferring powers to the government:
Substantial responsibilities from UNMIK are already in your hands and
there are more to come." Prime Minister Rexhepi said that he was
"pleased that the government is constituted with all its ministers.
We will be working on behalf of all citizens of Kosovo.
On the occasion
of the third anniversary of the arrival of UNMIK and KFOR into Kosovo,
SRSG Michael Steiner told the press in Pristina that the international
community had much to be proud about. Kosovo's continuing reconstruction
and great personal energy was the result of people's initiative but
also result of more than $2 billion committed by international donors,
mostly by the EU. However, Kosovo no longer lived on donations alone:
93 per cent of 2002 i374 million Kosovo Consolidated Budget would come
from locally generated revenues, with only 7 per cent coming from donors.
This year's most visible achievement was establishment of a multiethnic
Government. "So all in all, we have cause to celebrate," SRSG
Michael Steiner concluded. "But now we must get down to work."
13 June
SRSG Michael Steiner
signed two regulations that pave the way for privatization of socially-owned
enterprises in Kosovo. "A functioning market economy is one of
the eight benchmarks," he said. "A market economy needs privatization.
We now have the framework for this." Regulation 2002/12 establishes
the Kosovo Trust Agency and Regulation 2002/13 sets up a Special Chamber
of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency matters. The role
of the Kosovo Trust Agency will be to manage the privatization of socially
owned enterprises and to oversee the management of public owned enterprises
in Kosovo. The signing ceremony was attended by Jurgen Voss, deputy
DSRSG for UNMIK Pillar IV, UNMIK Legal Advisor Alexander Borg-Olivier
and World Bank representative Sidi M. Boubacar.
Top
of page
