OSCE Chairman-in-Office Dimitrij Rupel said, at the opening session of the conference, that he expected that a resolution to the issue of Kosovo's status would come next year. For many years, he said, the OSCE has been playing a key role in strengthening democratic institutions, human rights and the rule of law in Kosovo and that role should be continued.

“The entire Western Balkans region belongs in the EU. While we are working on the status of Kosovo, we must not forget Serbia, Montenegro or Bosnia-Herzegovina. Together with Croatia and Macedonia, this whole region belongs in the EU”, Rupel said.

He also pointed out that a restrictive visa regime is not a recipe to confront organised crime and the migration of labour.

“The answer is in capacity building”, Rupel said.

Eighty member countries and partner states and 45 accredited foreign ministers are taking part in the two-day conference in Ljubljana. The delegation of Serbia-Montenegro is being led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Draskovic.

The permanent representative of SCG at the OSCE Head Office in Vienna, Vesko Garcevic, said that the most important thing to do in Ljubljana is to engage in bilateral talks with ministers from a number of countries, especially from Europe, who are presently all gathered at the same place during the next two days.

“Speaking of Kosovo, our delegation should convey the standpoints of Serbia and the federal union of Serbia-Montenegro in line with decisions made by the Serbian Parliament. The future of the union has garnered a lot of attention from European ministers and the OSCE, who will actively participate in organising the referendum in Montenegro”, Garcevic said.

B92 has also learnt that the OSCE is working on a resolution for Kosovo that could possibly be finalised at the end of the two-day conference.

US against division of Kosovo

The US feels that dividing Kosovo is not a good idea and oppose this notion. Nevertheless, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told Ljubljana daily Delo the US did not want to prejudice the future status of Kosovo.

“We believe that decisions pertaining to the future of Kosovo are to be made by the people who live there, Kosovo Albanians and, naturally, the Serbian Government, but we feel that dividing Kosovo would not be a good solution”, Burns was quoted as saying.

Source: B92 News