BELGRADE SETS RULES FOR KOSOVO TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.08.2007 16:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Serbian government on Friday sent countries
involved in negotiations over Kosovo a list of proposed rules for the
talks, amid reports it was ready to cede some elements of sovereignty
to the breakaway province.

The government said it sent the list to the ambassadors of the
United States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France and Italy – the
countries of the so-called Contact Group – state television reported.

The proposal envisages direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina,
held without a deadline.

Belgrade rejected, as a basis for negotiations, a UN proposal that
Kosovo be granted internationally monitored independence. But it
still urged UN supervision of the process, the Tanjug news agency said.

Also Friday, the Danas daily newspaper quoted government minister
Slobodan Samardzic as saying Belgrade was ready to grant some
international rights to Kosovo, such as separate membership in the
International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, as part of a compromise.

"The institutions of substantial autonomy in Kosovo could have
cooperation with international financial institutions and could
even have their own representation, meaning a certain capacity of
independent conduct in international relations," Samardzic told
the newspaper.

There was no immediate reaction from the Kosovo Albanians. They
have rejected similar proposals in the past, insisting instead on
full independence.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying
that direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina could start late next
week. "We are simply considering such a possibility and awaiting a
response from Belgrade and Pristina," the source said.

The Contact Group has taken over the negotiations from the United
Nations after UN-brokered talks produced no result in the dispute
between Serbia and Kosovo ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo is formally a province of Serbia, but it is inhabited primarily
by independence-minded ethnic Albanians. The province has been run
by the UN and NATO since a 1999 NATO air war halted a Serb crackdown
against the separatists, the IHT reports.