Bucharest, Nov 19, 2005 - Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Zoran Loncar said today in Bucharest that the Serbian government is ready for a peaceful and compromise solution to the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.
In a statement to the Beta news agency, given at a one-day conference themed "The Balkans and the EU - challenges on the way to integration", Loncar said that a compromise solution to the Kosovo issue would represent a significant step towards European integration, not only for Serbia, but for the rest of the countries in the Western Balkans as well.
He stressed that Serbia is ready to take its share of the responsibility in the process of political resolution of the Kosovo status according to the principles of international law and democratic values of modern states.
The minister reiterated that Serbia is ready to complete the process of European integration as soon as possible and to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in November 2006.
At the conference, Loncar pointed out Serbia's intention to remove the obstacles standing in the way of EU integration, before all to achieve full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, and finally to fulfill long time assumed international obligations.
The participants in the Bucharest conference include officials from southeast European countries and the USA, as well as representatives of the Council of Europe, the EU and the UN.
Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo sent both government and parliamentary delegations.
The conference has been organised by the Project on Ethnic Relations and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.