Serbia, 2007

I welcome the opportunity

to address, on behalf of the Republic of Serbia, the

General Assembly of the United Nations, the highest

body of the world family of sovereign nations.

I congratulate Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on

his election to his very responsible post. I also

congratulate the newly elected President of the General

Assembly, Mr. Srdjan Kerim, who hails from our

region of South-East Europe.

Serbia attaches exceptional importance to the role

that the world Organization, and the Security Council

in particular, play in maintaining international peace

and security and in safeguarding the sovereignty and

territorial integrity of the Member States. Proceeding

from the Charter of the United Nations as the

cornerstone of the current international legal order,

Serbia calls for its consistent implementation.

The sixty-second session of the General

Assembly is taking place at a very important moment

for Serbia as the negotiation process on the future

status of its province of Kosovo and Metohija is under

way. Proceeding from the firm position that the

independence of Kosovo is unacceptable to Serbia, we

have offered special rights and competences to Kosovo

Albanians for the autonomous development of their

community within the Republic of Serbia.

In defence of the State sovereignty and territorial

integrity of Serbia, our negotiating team has offered a

decentralization model based on European solutions

that would protect the interests of Kosovo Albanians,

as well as the threatened interests of the Serbian and

other non-Albanian ethnic communities in the

province, in an effective way. Serbia offers solutions

that would definitively solve, through mutual

agreement and with the implementation of European

values and rules, an old inter-ethnic conflict and open

the prospects of reconciliation and coexistence within a

modern, democratic and European Serbia. My country

is ready to compromise, yet we wish to point out that

the legitimate interests of democratic Serbia and the

specific needs of the threatened Serbian community in

the province, as well as of other communities that have

fallen victim to expulsion, such as the Roma and

Gorani communities, must be respected. Let me recall

that more than 200,000 Serbs have left Kosovo since

1999; to date, according to the official data of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, only

7,100 have returned.

Today, negotiations are under way under the

auspices of the Contact Group, but a legitimate

decision on the future status of Kosovo can be taken

only by the Security Council. Only a decision taken by

that institution can be based on international law.

Persistent in our request that the territorial

integrity of the Republic of Serbia be respected, we

call for the attainment of a compromise solution

through diplomatic, legal and peaceful means, and not

through war and violence. It is precisely for those

reasons that democratic Serbia does not accept that the

threat of violence made by the party we are negotiating

with is an argument for redrawing the borders of

legitimate democracies and for violating the norms of

international law. My country is therefore steadfast in

warning of the unforeseeable consequences of that

unprincipled and dangerous policy, and remains

committed to the search for a peaceful and compromise

solution through dialogue and in full respect for the

Charter of the United Nations.

Serbia would also like to recall that threats have

been bandied about of late that the Kosovo Provisional

Institutions will unilaterally declare independence on

11 December. We point that out because of the fact that

the international legal order would never be the same

following a one-sided recognition of Kosovo’s

independence, while many separatist movements the

world over would exploit the newly established

precedent. Many regions in the world would thereby be

destabilized. We therefore call on the legitimate

representatives of the Kosovo Albanians to proceed to

the resumed negotiations without prejudging the

outcome, so that a compromise solution acceptable to

both parties can be achieved, leading to long-term

Serbian/Albanian reconciliation.

This year, Serbia is presiding over the Committee

of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In that capacity,

we have made every effort to make a maximum

contribution to the strengthening of democracy, the

protection of human rights and the rule of law the

basic values of the oldest pan-European organization.

We have also sought to strengthen synergy between the

Council of Europe and the United Nations, especially

in the field of human rights.

It is in the strategic interest of Serbia to become a

member of the European Union. We are working hard

to become a candidate member by the end of 2008. We

are engaged in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration

through the Partnership for Peace programme. We have

thereby clearly evinced our acceptance of European

values and our readiness to develop our country in

accordance with the highest European standards.

We are convinced that the European perspective

on the entire Western Balkans is the most effective way

to stabilize the situation and accelerate the

development of all countries in the region. Only thus

shall we overcome the problems inherited from the past

and encourage a spirit of tolerance and commitment to

the same goals and values, which will provide a basis

for building stable and lasting peace in our region.

Unfortunately, the question of war crimes

continues to burden relations among Balkan countries.

For its part, Serbia has done everything within its

power to track down, arrest and transfer to The Hague

those accused of war crimes, thereby demonstrating its

commitment to cooperating with the International

Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to a

successful end. That is not only Serbia’s international

obligation; above all, it is our debt to ourselves and to

our neighbours. By punishing criminals and building a

stable and prosperous region, a common space

integrated into the European Union, we can ensure a

better future for all citizens.

It is with pleasure and optimism that we note that,

step by step, South-East Europe is becoming a region

of good-neighbourliness and cooperation. There are

numerous examples of very successful initiatives and

concrete forms of cooperation, the contribution of

which to the promotion of peace and mutual trust is

exceptionally important. There is hardly any field in

which we have not yet established a mechanism of

mutual cooperation. That proves unequivocally that

this is a lasting, strategic orientation of all countries in

the Balkans and a reflection of their common

aspiration to the full inclusion of our region into

European integration.

(spoke in English)

Global problems call for global answers, and all

Member States are therefore required to participate

actively in their solution. Today, as we face completely

new and specific challenges that threaten international

peace and security and pose a threat to overall

development and prosperity, we are becoming

increasingly aware of the great need perhaps greater

than ever before for the United Nations.

Terrorism is one of the greatest scourges of the

present-day world. In order to fight and eradicate it

effectively, we must take a global, coordinated

approach, as well as vigorous action at the regional and

country levels. Last year, Serbia hosted the regional

summit meeting on terrorism, organized crime and

corruption.

As can be seen, we cooperate very closely with

our neighbours in order to forestall threats. An

excellent example of that cooperation was the recent

joint exercise of the armies of Serbia, Romania and

Bulgaria, which provided abundant evidence of our

three countries’ collective readiness to combat

terrorism and any other threat to the security of our

citizens. Serbia also initiated the signing of an

agreement with neighbouring countries on cooperation

in the protection against natural disasters. The recent

catastrophic fires that engulfed Greece and the manner

in which we reacted provided eloquent proof of the

vital importance of mutual dependence and solidarity

in the Balkan region.

Numerous crises continue to plague the world.

Some are dormant, some are escalating, while others

threaten to provoke conflicts that could engender

dangerous consequences, destruction and humanitarian

catastrophes. Our experience to date makes us believe

even more firmly that lasting, just and stable peace and

security can be achieved only peacefully, through

dialogue, mutual respect and cooperation.

Serbia believes that the United Nations continues

to be an irreplaceable international authority and

mechanism for the prevention of crises and the

resolution of conflicts. Successful and timely

deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces is

an important aspect of the maintenance of international

peace and security. We support the efforts of the

Organization to further strengthen the efficiency of its

peacekeeping capacities. Serbia therefore considers

that only gathered together around common goals and

objectives and united in action can we make a vigorous

stand against such global threats to international peace

and security as terrorism, bellicose extremism, mass

poverty, organized crime, pandemic diseases and the

harmful consequences of climate change.

Global warming is surely a major problem of our

age and rightly figures as one of the central topics on

the agenda of the sixty-second session of the General

Assembly. That phenomenon which, arguably, may

affect all humankind knows no national borders and

circumvents no part of the world. To solve it, therefore,

we must address it very seriously, as it brooks no delay

and all Member States must get on board. Within the

Belgrade Initiative, Serbia has proposed that activities

to stop global warming be carried out also at the

regional level and that a regional centre for South-East

Europe be set up in Belgrade to that end. We also

emphasize that plans to reduce harmful emissions must

take into consideration the level of the economic

development of various countries as well.

The complex of relations among different

cultures, civilizations and religions is also a question

that deserves to be at the focus of the attention of the

United Nations. A truly multi-ethnic, multi-

confessional and multi-cultural country, Serbia fully

understands all the sensitivity of those questions and

treats them with due attention. We are well aware that

the world of the twenty-first century must not be based

on intolerance on any ground. We, the leaders of the

United Nations Member States, are entrusted with a

great responsibility to make every effort to ensure that

all the diversity of this world be comprehended and

accepted as the wealth of all, rather than as the cause

of new divisions. Indeed, dialogue and mutual

tolerance must prevail as the basic principles of our

mutual relations, both within States and internationally.

As a responsible member of the world community

and international organizations, Serbia fully respects

the Charter of the United Nations and the international

legal order established by the Charter. Building a truly

democratic society in our own country, we call for the

democratization of international relations on the basis

of the strict implementation of the Charter and other

generally accepted norms and standards.

We firmly believe that only equitable cooperation

among countries and peoples, respect for basic human

rights and fundamental freedoms, and mutual trust can

guarantee stable international peace and security. At

the same time, short of the political stability and

economic prosperity of States, there is no successful

cooperation at the bilateral, regional and global levels.

The precondition for stability and dynamic economic

development is equal access to new technologies and

modern scientific achievements.

(spoke in French)

The Republic Serbia is willing and ready,

alongside other countries, to be actively involved in the

process of United Nations reform and revitalization in

order to make the world Organization capable of

effectively facing the challenges of our times. Our

historic responsibility is to ensure future generations a

much better environment than that in which we live

today. The Republic of Serbia remains devoted to

achieving the goals of the United Nations and, along

with other countries, is ready to work on further

strengthening the integrity of the world Organization

under its Charter.