Djuric receives UNMIK head

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric met with Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK Peter Due in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss the current security and political situation in Kosovo-Metohija and the position of Serbs in the province.

"Djuric underlined that Serbia attaches the utmost importance to the activities of UNMIK and stressed that it is of great importance for our country to maintain the continuity and dynamics of the UN Security Council sessions on UNMIK in an open format," a government statement said.

"Serbia expects UNMIK, in addition to effectively implementing its mandate on the ground, to objectively and fact-basedly point to the alarming position of the Serbian and other non-majority communities in the next report of the UN Secretary-General," it quoted Djuric as saying.

"The head of Serbian diplomacy assessed that the solution reached in connection with the implementation of the 'law on foreigners' in the triangle of the European Union, Belgrade and Pristina prevented the worst-case scenario, and that the health and education institutions that represent the basis for the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo-Metohija and the foundation of the future Community of Serb Municipalities have been preserved.

The minister also pointed to numerous examples of institutional violence, as well as the continuous and increasingly frequent unilateral actions of the temporary institutions in Pristina directed against Serbs.

He concluded that the presence of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo-Metohija is of utmost importance for preserving peace, stability and security in our southern province," it also said.

At a separate meeting, Due also spoke with the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic.