UNMIK/PR/1303
PRISTINA – SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen and KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Yves de Kermabon co chaired the bi-monthly meeting of Kosovo Protection Corps Development Group (KPCDG) today at UNMIK HQ.
KPC Commander Lt. Gen. Agim Çeku, representatives of the Quint, as well as other members of UNMIK and KFOR participated in the meeting. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj also attended the meeting, and will now be a permanent member of the group, following the invitation of the SRSG and COMKFOR.
The Prime Minister acknowledged the importance of the meeting and reiterated his wish to be proactively engaged in the future development of the KPC. The SRSG outlined the achievements of 2004, with the KPC continuing to exercise its duties in accordance with its mandate, making progress in the implementation of Standard 8, and developing well, particularly regarding de-mining, search and rescue operations, fire-fighting, humanitarian activities and emergency interventions. The KPC’s continued efforts to achieve the requirements set out under Standard 8, particularly the agreed priorities, were acknowledged by the participants in the meeting.
Challenges anticipated for 2005 were discussed and it was agreed that in order for the KPC to fully and effectively implement its mandated tasks and continue to professionalise as well as implement the goals and actions outlined under Standard 8, it is essential that the KPC receive further political and financial support and advocacy from the PISG as well as the wider international community. Such support is required in order to provide the KPC with the necessary training and mission-essential equipment to fully and effectively fulfil its mandate.
The SRSG and the Prime Minister agreed that a working group should be established (KPC/PISG/OKPCC-UNMIK) in order to formulate the details and procedures pertaining to KPC’s engagement in public ceremonial duties in the future. Gen. Çeku reported that the KPC Civil Protection Brigade working group is looking at how the KPC can deliver a more focused, efficient and responsive civil emergency response capability.
The SRSG also called upon the Quint nations to lend their support to the KPC, especially its endeavour to further professionalise and in its longer-term development. In particular, KPC Development Group members accepted that it is of vital importance that the KPC is provided with such support in its efforts to encourage ethnic minorities to join the KPC (a Standard 8 Priority) through field projects, which would, in themselves, serve to build trust between ethnic minorities and the KPC.