Petkovic: Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on text of Community statute to resume in two days

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Tuesday an invitation by the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak to resume the dialogue in Brussels in two days had been accepted by Belgrade and that the text of a statute of a Community of Serb Municipalities would be on the agenda.

"We accepted an invitation by Mr Lajcak to meet in two days in Brussels, where the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue will be resumed. Our side is very well prepared and we will go there with a special team of experts. We will be discussing the text of the statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which is the first concrete step towards establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities," Petkovic told reporters after attending a meeting between Lajcak and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Petkovic said Vucic had also pointed out all the facts regarding daily threats to Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija as well as the numerous escalatory moves by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti.

"We also discussed the Community of Serb Municipalities - that was on the agenda of today's meeting. It is the key and the most important topic, above all, to Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, besides de-escalation, which President Aleksandar Vucic especially insisted on," he said.

He added that the Community of Serb Municipalities was a mechanism for safeguarding the collective and individual rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, which he said were trampled underfoot by Kurti "almost on a daily basis."

"Of course, also discussed were all other topics that are part of agreements that have been signed or agreed on in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. You know well that Belgrade has never shunned discussions and dialogue and that, on the contrary, we have always insisted on dialogue as the only way of solving all problems and normalising Belgrade-Pristina relations," Petkovic said.