Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia Kosovo would have to assume the servicing of more than $1 billion in foreign debt if it gains admission to the IMF and the World Bank, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic said Thursday (May 7th).

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik caused a new diplomatic and political scandal, by calling off ethnic Serb soldiers from NATO exercises in Georgia, local media reported on Friday. “Bosnia and Herzegovina has no reason to participate in this (exercise),” Dodik, who is Premier of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika …

The prospect of Kosovo’s acceptance into the International Monetary Fund is raising some awkward questions in Serbia, and has precipitated debate within the country about the fate of the former province’s debt. The countries that made up the former Yugoslavia have divided up the debt, including IMF obligations, as well …

SKOPJE, Macedonia Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic arrived on Thursday (May 7th) for an official visit to Skopje, the first by a Serbian official since Macedonia recognised Kosovo’s independence and Belgrade recalled its ambassador to Skopje last October.

The President of Serbia Boris Tadic has called the decision of the International War Crimes Tribunal to triple Veselin Sljivancanin’s sentence ‘disappointing’. But at the same time, Tadic said the Tribunal’s decision should not be ‘brought into question’. In an interview with the daily Politika, Tadic said that questioning the …

Despite clear differences regarding Kosovo’s independence, Macedonia and Serbia must focus on their joint interests, the Foreign Ministers of the two countries said Thursday. Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic arrived today in a fist visit of a Serbian official to neighboring Macedonia after the country recognized the former Serbian province …

The Serbian government is debating a package of anti-crisis measures that aim to support industry and offer cheaper loans. Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic, in a statement to the press, said that the package included restrictive, stimulative and active measures. He said that the key was to support industry, offering cheaper …

Pierre Mirel, Director of the European Commission’s Enlargement Unit for the Western Balkans will visit Belgrade on 11 May for talks, reports Danas. The paper highlights an expected meeting with Serbia’s interior minister Ivica Dacic, in which Mirel is expected to have talks about the Commission’s upcoming report on Serbia’s …

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, has urged Kosovo citizens, particularly ethnic Serbs, to return to Kosovo. Along with the Minister for Return and Communities in Kosovo’s government, Sasa Rasic, Thaci invited Serbs to return to Kosovo and re-start their lives in the “Kosovar system of living”. “The government of the …

BELGRADE, Serbia Kosovo’s transport and telecommunications minister, Fatmir Limaj, is the subject of a probe by Serbian war crimes prosecutors, media in Belgrade reported Sunday (May 3rd). The investigation is into Limaj’s alleged involvement in crimes against Serb civilians in the Drenica region. Limaj has already stood trial at The …