UNMIK/PR/1283
PRISTINA – SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen hosted a first working lunch today with the new Kosovo Government.
The SRSG opened the meeting by congratulating the Prime Minister and his cabinet on the beginning of their term, saying the meeting marked a renewal of UNMIK’s ongoing partnership with the local authorities.
“The past few months have proven that Kosovo has a functioning democracy. The new Government now has many very important tasks ahead of it, to implement its priorities and to achieve a positive assessment of Standards by mid-2005,” he said.
The SRSG reiterated that the top priority is the implementation of Standards, adding that he is pleased the new Government has already put in a lot of effort in this direction. He also stressed that the new leaders should exercise their leadership to call for dialogue and reach out to all communities.
Mr. Jessen-Petersen reminded his guests that the over-arching priority is the economy. “All the people who turned out to vote for you did so for one main reason – they want jobs. You owe it to the voters to move aggressively to address Kosovo’s economic problems,” he said.
The SRSG said more competencies in the area of the economy would be transferred to the local institutions in the coming months, to be followed later by responsibilities in the areas of justice, police and security. And he underscored that “more competencies will be accompanied by more accountability.”
Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the new Government is already up and running, and has been working very hard on the implementation of Standards. “We have presented our programme to the SRSG and we welcome his ideas,” he said.
The Prime Minister also agreed that a lot needs to be done on the economy, adding that UNMIK’s assistance is needed in this regard. He also said he would like to established contacts with Kosovo’s neighbours, including Belgrade.
Each minister then gave a brief presentation of the priorities for their respective ministries. They requested support from UNMIK and the international community to overcome problems in implementing their priorities.