Tadić travels to New York

President Boris Tadic will travel today to New York to attend the 63rd UN General Assembly session. On Tuesday, the first day of the general debate, Tadic is due to address the Assembly. Tadic travels to New York In addition, he will also hold over 30 bilateral meetings with UN member-state representatives to discuss with them Serbia's initiative to seek the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence. Serbia’s initiative will go to the vote, the outcome of which, says the president, is uncertain. One of Tadic’s goals is to transfer the Kosovo question from political to legal ground. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that Serbia had “good prospects“ of the UN General Assembly supporting her initiative, but that there was “a lot of work ahead of us, as we need to convince the majority of countries to support Serbia’s position.“ “From the start of this struggle for this initiative we’ve gone from having virtually non-existent to realistic chances. We’ll do all we can to get a majority in the end,“ stressed Jeremic in an interview with daily Politika. The minister voiced his expectation that the ICJ would give a “clear response that’ll be positive for us“, an opinion “that means there is no alternative to a return to the negotiating table“, and that the “content of that opinion will be to the effect that the temporary institutions in Pristina declared independence in contravention of international law.“ “This will show that Kosovo is unable to secure broad international endorsement for its so-called sovereignty via unilateral means. In other words, it can either remain in that undefined position or it can return to the negotiating table. I think that the ICJ’s opinion will be such that there will be no alternative to a return to the negotiating table,“ he forecast. Jeremic said that “certain extremely powerful countries are offering rather active resistance“ to the initiative, and cautioned that the final outcome could be uncertain if a large number of countries come under strong pressure. “Some countries have officially informed us that they will be voting for us—India, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, China, Algeria, Egypt and many more. Nonetheless, we need to be careful, as voting in the General Assembly has shown that there have been U-turns in the past right ahead of the vote. Certain countries, that have intimated to us that they will be supporting us, could decide to abstain at the last moment,“ the minister pointed out. He said that according to information from diplomatic circles, a passionate debate is currently under way in the EU as to how member-states will vote, with a view to adopting a common EU position. “We’re on a run at the moment, which is also evidenced by the fact that not a single country in the UN General Committee opposed including the issue on the agenda. I think that’s why we have good prospects, but there’s still a long way to go,“ said Jeremic. The minister said that Serbia would endeavor to bring her motion on to the agenda as early as possible. Voting in the General Assembly begins on October 6 and runs until the end of the year. The UN General Assembly

Tadić travels to New York

In addition, he will also hold over 30 bilateral meetings with UN member-state representatives to discuss with them Serbia's initiative to seek the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

Serbia’s initiative will go to the vote, the outcome of which, says the president, is uncertain. One of Tadić’s goals is to transfer the Kosovo question from political to legal ground.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić said that Serbia had “good prospects“ of the UN General Assembly supporting her initiative, but that there was “a lot of work ahead of us, as we need to convince the majority of countries to support Serbia’s position.“

“From the start of this struggle for this initiative we’ve gone from having virtually non-existent to realistic chances. We’ll do all we can to get a majority in the end,“ stressed Jeremić in an interview with daily Politika.

The minister voiced his expectation that the ICJ would give a “clear response that’ll be positive for us“, an opinion “that means there is no alternative to a return to the negotiating table“, and that the “content of that opinion will be to the effect that the temporary institutions in Priština declared independence in contravention of international law.“

“This will show that Kosovo is unable to secure broad international endorsement for its so-called sovereignty via unilateral means. In other words, it can either remain in that undefined position or it can return to the negotiating table. I think that the ICJ’s opinion will be such that there will be no alternative to a return to the negotiating table,“ he forecast.

Jeremić said that “certain extremely powerful countries are offering rather active resistance“ to the initiative, and cautioned that the final outcome could be uncertain if a large number of countries come under strong pressure.

“Some countries have officially informed us that they will be voting for us—India, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, China, Algeria, Egypt and many more. Nonetheless, we need to be careful, as voting in the General Assembly has shown that there have been U-turns in the past right ahead of the vote. Certain countries, that have intimated to us that they will be supporting us, could decide to abstain at the last moment,“ the minister pointed out.

He said that according to information from diplomatic circles, a passionate debate is currently under way in the EU as to how member-states will vote, with a view to adopting a common EU position.

“We’re on a run at the moment, which is also evidenced by the fact that not a single country in the UN General Committee opposed including the issue on the agenda. I think that’s why we have good prospects, but there’s still a long way to go,“ said Jeremić.

The minister said that Serbia would endeavor to bring her motion on to the agenda as early as possible. Voting in the General Assembly begins on October 6 and runs until the end of the year.