5 November
The Director of
the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Christoffer Sjöholm
signed an agreement with UNMIK to develop the Statistics Office of Kosovo
(SOK). Goods and services valued at 8.759 million Swedish Kronor (approximately
959,500 euros) will be channeled to SOK through a four-year project
entitled “Economic Statistics and IT in Kosovo." The project's
objectives are first, to help Kosovo develop useful economic statistics,
such as an enterprise register, price and foreign trade statistics;
and second, to facilitate decision-making by providing relevant and
reliable statistics which comply with EU requirements.
SRSG Michael Steiner
addressed a donors' meeting in Brussels during which he underlined what
he called, a strong and successful partnership between the UN, the OSCE,
EU and KFOR. "Increasingly, it is also a partnership between UNMIK
and Kosovo's new, democratic institutions that is shaping the future
success of Kosovo", he said. "It's not just about bricks and
mortar. It's also about building institutions; building communities
and about building trust - mental peacekeeping that is". Mr Steiner
was accompanied by Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi and the Ministerial
Co-ordinator for Returns, Milorad Todorovic.
6 November
On his return to Kosovo from Brussels Michael Steiner described
the meeting as very successful. "Over thirty countries recognised
the progress being made in Kosovo, and what's most important, they declared
their readiness to stay engaged in Kosovo," he said at Pristina
Airport. "Donors have committed to provide 500 million more euros
for 2003 through 2005. They are confident that 200 million of this will
be available for 2003. And the donors fully understood that Kosovo will
need to have access to international financial institutions." After
speaking about donor funding, the SRSG commented on the issue of the
draft preamble for a Serbia and Montenegro Charter. "Regarding
the draft preamble between Belgrade and Montenegro, I understand the
concerns in Kosovo, but we need to have the facts clear. It is a draft,
and an old draft at that. And it is a text under third parties which
does not in any way bind Kosovo.''
7 November
SRSG Michael Steiner annulled a resolution passed by the Kosovo
Assembly, which declared as "unacceptable and null" the draft
preamble of the Constitutional Charter of Serbia-Montenegro regarding
Kosovo. Mr Steiner said that Kosovo was under the authority of UN Security
Council Resolution 1244, and neither Belgrade nor Pristina can prejudge
Kosovo's future status, which is open and will be determined by the
UN Security Council. "Any unilateral statement which is not endorsed
by the Security Council will not have a legal effect in Kosovo's future
status, said the SRSG.
10 November
UNMIK, UNHCR and KFOR issued a joint Press Release strongly condemning
an incident of rock throwing near the town of Grmovo in the Viti/Vitina
Municipality. The incident happened during a “Go-and-See”
visit on 7 November sponsored by the United Methodist Committee on Relief
. During the visit, a group of Albanian males deliberately disrupted
the convoy of vehicles by throwing rocks and eggs, breaking windows
of several vehicles and slightly injuring an UNMIK Police officer and
one male Serb returnee. "This incident goes against the very fabric
of progress here in Kosovo and does not indicate the willingness of
the vast majority of the citizens to support minority returns,"
said Pasqualino Verdecchia, UNMIK Regional Administrator for Gjilan/Gnjilane.
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