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Clinton Urges Serbia to Open Talks with Kosovo

   VOA News 12 October 2010
   US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (l) and Serbian President
   Boris Tadic shake hands after their meeting in Belgrade, 12 Oct 2010

Photo: AP

   US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (l) and Serbian President
   Boris Tadic shake hands after their meeting in Belgrade, 12 Oct 2010

   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Serbia's leaders Tuesday
   to  open reconciliation talks with Kosovo, a former Serb province that
   declared independence in 2008.
   Clinton  said a dialogue would benefit both Serbia and Kosovo and have
   a "positive impact" on the relationship between Serbia, its neighbors,
   Europe and the United States.
   The  secretary  spoke  during  a visit to Belgrade, where she met with
   Serbian President Boris Tadic. Â
   Mr.  Tadic said his government would not recognize Kosovo, but said he
   was ready for talks on easing regional relations.
   Clinton  welcomed  Serbia's strong cooperation in apprehending Serbian
   wartime fugitives.
   On  Wednesday,  Clinton  will  travel  to  Kosovo  to meet with acting
   President Jakup Krasniqi and members of the Kosovo-Serb community.
   The secretary arrived in Serbia Tuesday from Bosnia-Herzegovina, where
   she  challenged  Bosnian  lawmakers to set aside thoughts of secession
   and  reform  the country's complex political system or risk being left
   behind as other Balkan countries move closer to western Europe.
   Speaking  in  Sarajevo,  Clinton also urged Bosnian leaders to improve
   key services needed to attract more foreign investment.
   Bosnia  emerged from more than three years of civil war in 1995 with a
   U.S.-brokered  peace  deal  that  provides for a complex power-sharing
   arrangement  between  Bosnia's  Muslim  and  Croat  Federation and the
   autonomous  ethnic-Serb  republic.  Preliminary results from Bosnia's
   general  election  earlier  this  month  show the three-man presidency
   likely will remain deadlocked over the country's future.
   Bosnia's confusing political system and simmering ethnic tensions have
   frustrated foreign business.  The World Bank ranks the country as one
   of the worst places in Europe to do business.

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