Belgrade, 30 november 2005 - Kosov@News - At the NATO summit in Riga, Serbia was given the conditional green light to join the Partnership for Peace. Although initialy it was concluded that in order to maintain this status, Serbia has to aprehend the wanted war criminals, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic within a year, apparently the final document does not contain this condition.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that this decision was a very important political step. NATO wanted to send a strong signal to Serbia that it is considered an important factor in the region and that it wishes to have strong ties with it, said Scheffer. He pointed out that with this decision, NATO has contributed to brining the region closer to Euro-Atlantic integrations.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Serbia’s membership in the Partnership for Peace Program is excellent news for citizens, the army and the state. He said that Serbia has been admitted to the Partnership after a long reform process, which has been going on since 2003, and owing to strong diplomatic activities. The Serbian President added that every potential investor is interested whether Serbia is in the WTO, the EU or the Partnership for Peace. We can finally tell all those who wish to open new jobs that Serbia is in the Partnership for Peace and that this is a reliable security guarantee for their investments, Tadic emphasized. According to him, Serbia’s membership will also facilitate quicker reforms and modernization of the Army.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that Serbia’s admittance to the Partnership for Peace Program shows that the European integration process of the country continues, and this is encouraging at a moment when it is fighting by all legal means at its disposal to preserve its integrity and territorial sovereignty. As members of the Partnership for Peace, we would be much more certain that Serbia’s integrity will be preserved and that Kosovo will remain in Serbia with an appropriate high degree of essential autonomy, stressed Kostunica. According to him, the same should be done in the case of negotiations on stabilization and association to the EU.  Conditioning is not the way for conducting integrations, whether in the Partnership for Peace or the EU, assessed Kostunica and reminded that there are several EU countries that believe that Serbia should not be conditioned, but rather encouraged in the process of European integrations.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic expressed expectations that Serbia’s entry into the NATO Partnership for Peace Program will open up the doors to Belgrade for the continuation of negotiations on stabilization and association with the EU. This is a clear message to retrograde political forces in Serbia that there will not a be a return to the past, Draskovic stressed. He expressed expectations that the decision of the NATO summit for Serbia to become a member of the Partnership for Peace, will be of great importance also for the future of the entire region, and that it will stimulate foreign investments and modernization of the Serbian Army.  The Head of the Serbian Government Office for cooperation with the Media Srdjan Djuric welcomed the decision of the NATO summit in Riga to admit Serbia into the Partnership for Peace Program. Djuric assessed for RTS, that it is especially important that this agreement will represent an even firmer basis for the position that NATO members must respect Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, in accordance with the UN Charter, Djuric said.

Serbian Ambassador in NATO Branislav Milinkovic said that he expects the Euro-Atlantic Council for the Partnership, the principal political body of the Partnership for Peace, already next week to invite Serbian representatives to participate in bodies of that NATO program. In order for Serbia’s participation in the Program to be formalized, it is necessary for a Framework Document of the Partnership to be signed and for Serbia to submit its Presentation Document and the Partnership Program, and this will probably be done in the next few weeks, Milinkovic told Beta.  Serbia’s membership in the NATO Partnership for Peace Program will accelerate other integration processes and increase foreign investments, assessed Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic. At a press conference, he expressed expectations that Serbia will through the NATO Partnership for Peace be able to join the EU.  Admission into the Partnership for Peace is a confirmation of the Euro-Atlantic future of Serbia, stressed Stankovic.