Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-05-20

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVED RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER IVANOV

[02] THE FRY DELEGATION CONCLUDED ITS VISIT TO ANGOLA

[03] TERRORIST SUSPECTS' TRIAL OPENS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA PROVINCE

[04] 10 MORE SERBS EXPELLED FROM THE VICINITY OF KOSTAJNICA

[05] PALESTINIAN HOUSING MINISTRY DELEGATION MEETS WITH SERBIAN MINISTERS

[06] PARLIAMENTARIANS URGE PROMOTION OF COOPERATION

[07] DIPLOMACY TO BE IN SERVICE OF ECONOMY

[08] IVANOV: RUSSIA IS YUGOSLAVIA'S LEADING TRADE PARTNER

[01] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC RECEIVED RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER IVANOV

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

President Slobodan Milosevic received on Monday Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and aides.

The talk covered the further development of bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, and topical international issues of mutual interest.

The two sides pointed up the importance of the continuous political dialogue between Yugoslavia and Russia and the mutual commitment to strengthening the mutual relations and stepping up all-round cooperation.

They singled out as a priority task the promotion of economic cooperation, to which they devoted special attention.

The major contribution made by Yugoslavia to the stabilization of the political situation in the region was assessed as positive, and accent was placed on the great responsibility for a consistent implementation of the Dayton/Paris Agreement on peace in Bosnia.

Accent was placed also on the importance of a consistent and comprehensive implementation of the Basic Agreement on the Srem-Baranja Region for a full normalization of the situation and effective protection of the rights and freedoms of all citizens in the region.

The talk was attended also by Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic and Russian Ambassador in Belgrade Yuri Kotov.

[02] THE FRY DELEGATION CONCLUDED ITS VISIT TO ANGOLA

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

The State/business delegation of the FRY, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister R. Bulajic, signed with senior members of the Angolan Government in Luanda the Protocol on the talks between the two sides, which emphasized the need to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.

Bulajic's talks with the representatives of the Angolan Government reconfirmed the support that the FRY has always extended to the Republic of Angola. Deputy Foreign Minister Sebastiao Isata expressed the wish, on behalf of the Angolan Government, that Yugoslavia resume its legitimate place in the international community and the Movement of Non*Aligned Countries.

It was agreed that it was necessary to sign the Agreement on the Promotion of and Protection of Investments and the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation, proposed by the Yugoslav side. The two sides also agreed that the General Trade Agreement, signed on 17 June 1977, continues to be a basic legal document which would regulate economic and trade relations between the two countries in the future, in the light of new realities.

[03] TERRORIST SUSPECTS' TRIAL OPENS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA PROVINCE

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

A trial of 20 ethnic Albanians accused of terrorism and hostile association opened on Monday in Pristina, capital of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province.

The defendants are members of an illegal ethnic Albanian separatist and terrorist organisation, known as the "National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo" (NPOK).

The defendants are accused of involvement, in the period from December 1992 to January 1997, in activities in the province which jeopardised the constitutional order and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

They are further accused of using violence in their effort to detach Kosovo- Metohija and other parts of Yugoslavia populated by ethnic Albanians from Serbia and to create a separate state which would eventually be annexed to Albania.

The NPOK was formed in 1992, but after some of its members were arrested in 1993, the rest dispersed and took refuge mostly in neighbouring Albania, only to return in 1995, when Avni Klinaku, the chief defendant, became NPOK leader.

The movement started an illegal magazine, "Qlirimi" (Liberation), disseminating propaganda against "Serbian occupiers", "national traitors" and ethnic Albanian pacifists, and inciting the people to armed rebellion, the bill of indictment says.

They are alleged to have acquired for this purpose considerable quantities of hand-guns, automatic rifles, machine*guns, bombs, ammunition, explosives, medical supplies and manuals for the use of light weaponry.

They were found in possession of maps of Pristina and the provincial town of Vucitrn with vital facilities prominently marked - post offices, police stations, medical institutions, etc.

They were also found to possess plans of Yugoslav Army and Serbian police headquarters.

[04] 10 MORE SERBS EXPELLED FROM THE VICINITY OF KOSTAJNICA

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

The representative of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Petar Mrkalj stated today that in the vicinity of Kostajnica, in Banija, the Serb refugees who wished to settle in this town continued to be expelled.

"From the villages in the vicinity of Kostajnica, 10 Serbian refugees were expelled", Mrkalj said.

According to him, the situation in the region of Kostajnica is "extremely tense"". The police introduced controls, but in the region itself there is no protection for the Serbs whatsoever, Mrkalj added.

Mrkalj said that the Croatian Helsinki Committee received information that throughout the weekend the Serbs were expelled from Kistanje, in the vicinity of Knin, from where most of the Serbs fled in 1995 during the Croatian military action.

[05] PALESTINIAN HOUSING MINISTRY DELEGATION MEETS WITH SERBIAN MINISTERS

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

Serbian Minister of Construction Branislav Ivkovic and Minister without Portfolio Dejan Kovacevic received on Monday a delegation of the Housing Ministry of the Palestinian Autonomy, headed by Minister Abder Rahman Hamad.

The delegation arrived on a return visit to Belgrade on Sunday to sign with the Serbian Construction Ministry an agreement on cooperation that had been agreed on during Serbian officials' visit to Gaza and the West Bank last November, the Serbian Information Ministry said.

Ivkovic and Kovacevic welcomed the continuation of decades-old friendly relating through concrete forms of cooperation, saying the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of construction would be of major importance.

Hamad said the Palestinian Autonomy paid great attention to the programme of reconstruction and development of Gaza and the West Bank, saying Yugoslav building enterprises' participation in them was in the interest of both peoples.

He said he was confident that the delegation's visit would lead to the closing of the first contract for the participation of Yugoslav institutes and companies in projects for building housing and infrastructural facilities in the region of Gaza and the West Bank.

In a meeting with officials of leading Yugoslav institutes and companies in the sphere of planning, project engineering and construction, the delegation was informed about scientific and economic capacities of the Yugoslav construction industry, especially in the sphere of construction of housing, road and infrastructural facilities.

[06] PARLIAMENTARIANS URGE PROMOTION OF COOPERATION

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

Members of the Yugoslav Parliament and a delegation of Mexican parliamentarians discussed on Monday possibilities for the renewal and promotion of cooperation between the two countries.

The Yugoslav multi-party delegation, comprising members of the Foreign Policy Committees of the Chamber of Citizens and Chamber of the Republics, embraced the Mexican side's initiative for an inter-parliamentary group of Yugoslav-Mexican friendship to be set up with a view to establishing as direct and close as possible cooperation.

In a lengthy, open and friendly talk, views were exchanged on domestic and international topics.

Concrete issues of bilateral cooperation in all domains were discussed, with focus on joint investments, trade, agriculture, power industry, science, technology, culture and sports.

Head of the Mexican Parliamentary delegation Judit Trene Murgia Corral pointed up the need for the renewal and strengthening of all-round cooperation between the two states.

[07] DIPLOMACY TO BE IN SERVICE OF ECONOMY

Tanjug, 1997-05-17

Yugoslav Deputy Foreign Minister Radoslav Bulajic has stated that diplomatic drive will be mounted in the years to come to boost the economy and so help implement the peace process in the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans.

In an interview published by the "Nedeljni dnevnik" magazine, Bulajic said such a diplomacy would be deemed successful if it managed to create conditions for a constructive dialogue on all outstanding political and other issues among countries in the region.

Bulajic said a more balanced economic growth and social development, which he said largely depended on economic cooperation among countries, created the only firm basis for peaceful and stable international relations.

He said modern trade and diplomacy served as instruments for preventing and controlling crises and for settling disputes.

"Once the privilege of the rich, commercial diplomacy is nowadays becoming a major element of the policy of developing countries in their struggle for more just political and economic systems and progress in general," he said adding that the Yugoslav diplomacy had to adapt to that multilateral commercial diplomacy as well.

He said Yugoslav diplomatic missions' task was therefore to pay more attention to economic relations and cooperation, because he said Yugoslavia was aware that economic cooperation was of utmost importance.

In this connection, Bulajic said businessmen and the economic diplomacy had been the first to make efforts to renew ties and channels of cooperation, saying a large number of dynamic contacts had been made over the past few months.

"A large number of agreements on economic cooperation have been signed and first significant initiatives made for cooperation among both governmental and non-governmental organisations of the Balkan states," he said.

The steps to follow could be directed at the development of road and railway network that is to bring Balkan economies closer to markets of industrialised European countries.

Commenting on economic recovery in the former Yugoslavia, Bulajic said that, in the days to come, the world community would focus its efforts on trade, cooperation and diplomacy in helping the reconstruction of war-devastated Bosnia-Herzegovina and other parts of the former Yugoslavia as well as Yugoslavia which he said had been seriously affected by sanctions.

Bulajic said the international community should treat equally all states emerging from the former Yugoslavia, especially in offering assistance for their economic recovery.

"One of the first, indispensable steps to be taken is the lifting of all sanctions against Yugoslavia and the country's reintegration into the international community and its political, financial and trade organisations,' he said.

"International assistance in the economic recovery and reconstruction of these lands is vital for establishing new relations and cooperation among the Balkan states as well as for their becoming part of economic and integration processes in Europe," he said.

Such a support would not only create good prospects for regional economies but would also help create new markets for industrialised countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world, he said.

Bulajic said that, along with globalism and multilateralism, regional economic cooperation was becoming a major factor in setting up future ties and securing a lasting peace and prosperity in the world.

Referring to ties among the Balkan states, Bulajic said the trade embargo against Yugoslavia had incurred a considerable loss on the countries in the region making it difficult for them to promote economic cooperation but doing nothing for the peace process.

Bulajic said peace accords reached in Dayton and signed in Paris in 1995 had created conditions for the Balkan countries to review their relations and open a dialogue on new forms of regional cooperation.

[08] IVANOV: RUSSIA IS YUGOSLAVIA'S LEADING TRADE PARTNER

Tanjug, 1997-05-19

Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on Monday that his country urged Yugoslavia's return to all international organizations.

"It is our principled position in all international organizations," Ivanov told reporters.

He set out that Moscow was pleased with the development of its political relations with Yugoslavia, but maintained that additional efforts were needed to develop economic relations between the two countries.

Ivanov told to the press that Russia was already Yugoslavia's leading trade partner, but noted that great possibilities existed for a stepped up development of economic cooperation.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that, in addition to the development of the bilateral relations, he had exchanged views with President Milosevic about the regulation of the situation in Bosnia.

"It is our position that the Dayton Agreement must be implemented in full, and Russia will continue to play a major role in that," Ivanov said.

Asked whether the political situation in Serbia had also been discussed, Ivanov replied that President Milosevic had given him some information. "President Milosevic feels that the elections, for whichpreparations are under way, are very important for the political stability in the country and the further development of democracy," Ivanov told the press.

Commenting issues of all-European security, the Russian official stressed that Moscow urged a secure and stable Europe, and said he had informed President Milosevic about the Agreement Russia had reached with NATO and the efforts Moscow would invest for the improvement of the charter on all- European security.

'It is our position that the Balkans must be a region of stability and cooperation and, in the measure in which issues left by the war are resolved, additional efforts should be invested to develop all-round relations among the countries of the region,' Ivanov said.

He set out that Russia had always played and would continue playing an active role in Balkan affairs and would continue to develop active relations with Yugoslavia within the framework of that policy.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister told reporters that his talks with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman would also cover the bilateral relations and the regulation of the situation in Bosnia and the region as a whole.

"An important element of stability in the region is the normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and Croatia. We take the view that both sides are working in that direction but that additional efforts are needed," Ivanov stressed.

He said the normalization of Yugoslav-Croatian relations was in keeping with the interests of both sides and also the interests of the region as a whole, including the regulation of the situation in Bosnia and in Eastern Slavonia.

Asked whether Russia opposed NATO's eastward expansion, Ivanov replied that Moscow viewed the expansion as a mistake and maintained that there was no reason for it.

"We have entered talks with NATO and prepared a document which is now ready to be signed with the interests of all-European security in mind and so as to minimize negative consequences,' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivanov stated.

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article