Serbia and UN cooperation

Belgrade June 28. 2010. (Serbia Today) - Serbia and UN recently signed a new five year partnership document. Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić and UN Resident Coordinator in Serbia William Infante put their signatures on the document. The Serbian foreign minister said that the new strategy between Serbia and the UN marks a new era in the cooperation between Serbia and the UN. The strategy involves USD 250mn of investments in projects between 2011 and 2015, which will be designed by the government and other partners, the Foreign Ministry has announced. The five-year strategy will support Serbia's efforts in European integration. It focuses on three areas: responsible government, sustainable development and social inclusion and finally regional stability and cooperation. The document was created in agreement with Serbian ministries and government agencies, civil society representatives and other partners. All of the projects within the new strategy are based on five general principles that define the UN global interest: gender equality and suppression of gender discrimination, environmental sustainability, human rights protection, development and government based on results, all of which are part of the UN Millenium Development Goals. The UN is proud that Serbia sees it as a reliable partner, said Infante. According to him, the strategy will rely on the experience and expertise of more than 24 resident and non-resident agencies that will provide counselling, achieve concrete results and strengthen Serbia's leadership position in the region

Tadic: EU, do you really want to accept all Balkan countries?

Belgrade June 26. 2010. (Serbia Today) EU has to be honest and say if it wants to accept all countries of the Balkan”, Serbian president Boris Tadic said addressing to recently held summit of heads of state and governments of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) During the conference in Istanbul Tadic also highlighted the union should reveal if is prepared to work with Balkan countries in a very practical way to ensure the existing criteria is fulfilled. "We all have our constraints, but we deal with them. We do not just let them be used as pretexts for doing nothing. Thus, Serbia expects that positive atmosphere and messages from recently held meeting in Sarajevo between EU and Western Balkans will be translated into action," Tadić said. Speaking about the importance of regional cooperation, Tadić pointed out that it has to be focused on fight against organized crime, the transnational networks of which pose the most direct danger to the region's prosperity. "Serbia has declared total war on organized crime and it will spare no effort in its mission to eradicate this threat. Serbia's zero-tolerance policy means no one-absolutely no one-will be permitted to stand beyond the reach of the law. Our police and judiciary institutions will continue their relentless pursuit of crime bosses and their collaborators," Tadić pointed out. Once again Tadic pointed out that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo independence.

Deputy PM Djelic in four-day visit to U.S.

Belgrade, June 26. (Serbia Today) - On Monday Deputy  PM and Minister of Science and  Technological Development Bozidar Djelic started a four-day official visit to the United States. Djelic will meet with heads of multinational companies like “Hewlett Packard, Intel, Altera, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Nokia.” According to the announcement from the Serbian ministry for Science and Technological Development the aim of these meeting will be to launch “concrete projects that will be implemented within the framework of the recently signed Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between Serbia and the U.S.”