UNMIK/PR/1710
PRISTINA – In an address today to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council in Vienna, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo (SRSG) Joachim Rücker said that clarity on Kosovo’s future is critical for the communities in Kosovo and to ensuring stability in the region.
Speaking on the Troika-led negotiations process, Rücker said, “I continue to have faith in a positive outcome. An agreed solution would be the optimal outcome, and the easiest to implement. Still, even if no agreement is reached, clarity on Kosovo’s future, key to ensuring stability in the region, will have to be forthcoming.”
“I echo the words of the UN Secretary-General, when I say that we have to consider how to address a situation in which the sides are unable to reach agreement by the end of the current period of engagement,” he added.
On the general elections, scheduled to take place on 17 November, Rücker said that preparations were fully on track, and that UNMIK, through the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, was ready to deploy mobile polling stations in case voters in certain areas were refused access to public buildings to cast their votes.
Rücker also highlighted the work of the OSCE in Kosovo. “Its comparative advantage, the extensive field presence, is now, more than ever, an indispensable tool through which the rest of the international community remains well informed on what is happening throughout Kosovo,” he said.
“All the communities in Kosovo, and other international organizations, rely on the presence and contribution of the OSCE Mission in many ways, during this crucial period and in the longer run. I am confident that the 56 participating States of the OSCE are aware of the necessity for the Mission to remain on the ground, and continue its contribution,” he said.
