UNMIK/PR/1373
PRISTINA - SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen convened the first meeting of the Kosovo Forum in the UNMIK HQ this morning. The meeting was attended, among others, by President Ibrahim Rugova, 1st Deputy President of AAK and Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi, ORA leader Veton Surroi, Vice President of LDK Kole Berisha and Vice President of PDK Hajredin Kuqi.
After the meeting the SRSG and the political leaders addressed a press conference. The SRSG said: “We agreed that starting status preparations is a top priority and we also agreed that the Forum will ensure now that the Status preparations get underway immediately. We agreed that we will now discuss amongst ourselves, over the next two-three weeks before the next Forum, exactly how we set up the status preparations mechanisms, how will this be composed and we will also discuss in more details on how the status preparation mechanism relates to the existing institutions.”
Terming it a “very good, first general discussion”, the SRSG said that the Forum had agreed to meet every three weeks initially. On the agenda will be broad issues of interest to Kosovo “that will now be defined with more precision in the next several days”, the SRSG said, adding “These are important issues, they are difficult issues… But the commitment to move forward in this consultative way is there and as such I am sure that it will contribute to a very clear way forward.”
Answering a question from a journalist, the SRSG clarified, “the SRSG cannot be part of the negotiating team on status…My job is to facilitate the process that also gets Kosovo ready for the status discussions”.
All the political leaders present also addressed the media, reaffirming their commitment to use the consultative platform of the Forum to reach a consensus on issues concerning Kosovo.