Serbia

MONTENEGRO Montenegrin FM Milan Roćen has welcomed the initiative of his Serbian counterpart for a meeting of the foreign ministers of all former Yugoslav countries. They would discuss prospects for Serbia to host the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in 2011, on the 50th anniversary of the organization.

MONTENEGRO Former chief of the Montenegrin trade mission in Washington, Ratko Knežević, said that he can prove his allegations regarding cigarette smuggling activities. “My publicly stated claims in the media will once again be confirmed officials, and the material evidence which I have will be submitted,” Knežević said regarding the …

SERBIA An IMF mission arrives in Belgrade on Monday to review whether Serbia has met the requirements of a €2.92 billion IMF standby loan approved in April. The IMF delegation, headed by Albert Jaeger, is set to meet Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic and Labour and …

BELGRADE The government has appointed Branislav Milinković as Serbia’s ambassador to NATO. The Belgrade newspaper explains that this was done on Monday, and that Milinković has been Serbia’s special envoy to the western military alliance since 2004. Milinković was sent to Brussels five years ago as representative of the then …

SERBIA, ALBANIA Belgrade-Tirana relations can sharpen after Sali Berisha’s statement about national unity of Albanians in the mother land and Kosovo, representative of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian government Oliver Ivanovic said. Tirana’s official response to Belgrade’s protest note about “cooperation between Republic of Albania and …

PODGORICA, Montenegro Serbia’s initiative to open three consulates in Montenegro should be decided on in direct talks between the two countries’ leaderships. This is according to a Podgorica-based Vijesti daily report, which quoted Montenegrin Foreign Ministry officials. Vijesti wrote that the official Belgrade was informed of the stand of the …

TIRANA, Albania Albanian PM Sali Berisha’s statement about the need to “integrate Albanians” is not tantamount to provoking Belgrade, said the Foreign Ministry in Tirana. “This is not a case of provoking Serbia. The cooperation of the republic of Albania and the republic of Kosovo is quite natural and has …

SERBIA Serbian President Boris Tadic says that Serbia will propose a new package of measures dealing with public expenditure and administration cuts in upcoming talks with IMF officials. “We need […] to rearrange public spending,” Tadic acknowledged in comments carried by Fonet news agency. He added that the best policy …

HAGUE, Holland A status conference in the court process being led against Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Šešelj will be held on Tuesday. The trial was in its final phase when it was halted in February, after some witnesses of the prosecution claimed to have received threats. 

BANJA LUKA Chief of the EP’s Southeast Europe delegation, Doris Pack, said that the existence of the Republic of Srpska (RS) is not slowing down Bosnia’s progress. “The existence of RS is not an obstacle, political verbal attacks are, and that is present in both entities. RS is not a …