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UN / KOSOVO
STORY: UN / KOSOVO
TRT: 2.41
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SERBIAN / KOSOVAR / NATS
DATELINE: 10 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
10 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, delegations
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Farid Zarif, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo:
“ I wish to begin my first briefing to you in 2014 by taking note of the remarkable progress achieved during 2013. It was a year of significant changes as well as political progress, in particular through the historic achievement last April of the “First agreement of principles governing the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.”
5. Wide shot, delegations
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Ivica Dacic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia:
“Serbia is ready for dialogue, aimed at finding a comprehensive solution, but it is not ready, nor will it ever be to accept the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and Metohija. We warn Pristina not to misinterpret the readiness of Serbia for dialogue and compromise as its weakness and not to use it for the affirmation of the self-declared independence.”
7. Wide shot, delegations
8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Ivica Dacic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia:
“We did our bit and we shall continue the dialogue with undiminished intensity and maximum constructiveness. Pristina, however, must be aware that there is no lasting comprehensive solution without agreement with Serbia and the decision of this body that I am addressing, the Security Council of the United Nations. 15 years have elapsed from the armed conflict in Kosovo and Metohija. Instead of continuing to live in the past and condemning each other, it is time we found a sustainable solution for the future.”
9. Wide shot, meeting
10. SOUNDBITE (Kosovar) Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo:
“I would like to thank all the countries that have recognize Kosovo and I call on other countries, including members of the Council that have not yet recognized Kosovo, to take this step and join the democratic world in support of Kosovo as an equal and full member of the international community. This formal recognition of Kosovo would be a direct contribution to the strengthening of peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
11. Wide shot, Security Council
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo Farid Zarif said that 2013 has been a year of “remarkable progress”, but that Pristina and Belgrade must continue their dialogue to reach regional reconciliation, stability and prosperity.
Speaking to the members of the Security Council, Zarif said “it was a year of significant changes as well as political progress, in particular through the historic achievement last April of the “First agreement of principles governing the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.”
In April 2013, Pristina and Belgrade reached a European Union (EU)-facilitated Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations, leading in November to largely peaceful mayoral and municipal assembly elections that for the first time included four largely Serb northern Kosovo municipalities under a single legislative framework, although the post-poll establishment of the new administrations there moved at a slow pace.
Zarif, who was presenting Ban Ki-moon’s latest report to the 15-member UN body, heads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), set up in 1999 to run Kosovo after North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid deadly fighting with the majority ethnic Albanian population there.
Ivica Dacic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, told the Security Council that “Serbia is ready for dialogue, aimed at finding a comprehensive solution, but it is not ready, nor will it ever be to accept the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and Metohija.”
He added “we warn Pristina not to misinterpret the readiness of Serbia for dialogue and compromise as its weakness and not to use it for the affirmation of the self-declared independence.”
The Serbian Prime Minister also said ‘we did our bit and we shall continue the dialogue with undiminished intensity and maximum constructiveness. Pristina, however, must be aware that there is no lasting comprehensive solution without agreement with Serbia and the decision of this body that I am addressing, the Security Council of the United Nations.
Dacic added “15 years have elapsed from the armed conflict in Kosovo and Metohija. Instead of continuing to live in the past and condemning each other, it is time we found a sustainable solution for the future.”
Also speaking to the Security Council, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said “I would like to thank all the countries that have recognize Kosovo and I call on other countries, including members of the Council that have not yet recognized Kosovo, to take this step and join the democratic world in support of Kosovo as an equal and full member of the international community.”
Thaci added “this formal recognition of Kosovo would be a direct contribution to the strengthening of peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, but Serbia does not recognize the declaration.
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