Djuric urges addressing local community problems in Kosovo

Djuric urges addressing local community problems in Kosovo

Expressing hope that the EU and all international actors will offer support and understanding, Djuric said on Wednesday that the Serbian government cares about ensuring a peaceful everyday life for the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija, noting that there have been no discussions as yet about how municipal administrations will operate.

"We want to be ambitious. There is still much that we have not discussed with the (ethnic) Albanians. We must focus on the positive aspects of our history," Djuric told at a panel titled Serbs and Albanians in 2025 as friends and allies: How do we get there? on the second day of the 4th Belgrade Security Forum.

Belgrade and Pristina will reach no agreement on status, but must focus on solving everyday problems and on positive historical examples that they have in common, he said.

"With such an approach, we can definitely have a different relationship by 2020," Djuric concluded.

Serbs and Kosovo Albanians could be allies and friends in 2025, he said, but added that this will depend on the moves politicians in Belgrade and Pristina make in the coming years.

The expectations were not this high at the time the discussions that lead to the dialogue started, he said, noting that the Brussels Agreement has become a kind of a model for solving crises, an agreement representing an introduction to a normalisation of relations between the two sides.

"The Serbian government has taken a step whose significance is perhaps greater than the signing of the agreement - we have encouraged the Serb communities in Kosovo-Metohija to participate in parliamentary elections," he noted.

With Belgrade's support, the Serbs registered a mass turnout in the June legislative elections in Kosovo-Metohija for the first time since 1999, while Serb participation in the new government in Pristina will contribute to solving practical problems faced by the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija and ease tensions, he said.

Belgrade has proposed that a Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia Liaison Office be opened in Pristina and vice versa, which will happen soon, Djuric also said, but added that much more could have been done had Pristina been a partner that is willing to take certain steps itself.