UNMIK/PR/1591
PRISTINA – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo (SRSG) Joachim Rücker today visited Skopje where he had separate meetings with President Branko Crvenkovski, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Miloshoski and President of DPA Arben Xhaferi. He also met leaders of the opposition, former Prime Minister and President of SDSM Vlado Buchkovski and President of DUI Ali Ahmeti. The SRSG discussed with his interlocutors issues of mutual interest to Pristina and Skopje, the current situation in Kosovo and the need to settle Kosovo’s status as early as possible in the interest of regional stability.
In a joint press conference with Prime Minister Gruevski, the SRSG commended the excellent bilateral cooperation achieved between Pristina and Skopje over the past years. “I think this is an example of the good neighbourly relations that Kosovo is developing within the region,” he said, “We have quite a number of bilateral agreements and there is more to come in important areas of cooperation.”
The SRSG said: “We also talked about the status process with regard to Kosovo and we agreed on the necessity to keep the momentum in the status process. In this regard I stressed that we continue to be guided by the commitment of the Contact Group as expressed on 20 September in New York that everything possible would be done to find a solution by the end of the year.”
Asked about the demarcation of the border between Kosovo and FYR Macedonia, the SRSG said, “All stakeholders agree that this will be solved in the context of the status settlement.”