(4)

Nor has the international community questioned the Serbia-Montenegro agreement and the recent proposal on the future of Kosovo on the basis these contravene Serbian sovereignty.

                                               (5)

The Papua New Guinea- Bougainville Agreement that was not opposed by the international community on the basis of safeguarding territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"In all these cases the peoples concerned have exercised their right to self-determination and sovereignty."

Impasse Is Declared in U.N. Talks on Kosovo

March 11, 2007  By REUTERS VIENNA, March 10 (Reuters) 

The United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari on Saturday declared an end to the fruitless search for a Serbian-Albanian compromise on the province of Kosovo and said he would send his independence proposal to the Security Council this month.

Mr. Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland, said leaders of Serbia and of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority had again failed to agree on a solution to the fate of the breakaway Serbian province after a meeting in Vienna, the last in a year of dialogue. "I would have very much preferred that this process would lead to a negotiated solution," he said.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of Serbia called for more talks, saying Mr. Ahtisaari's blueprint represented a "brutal violation of the U.N. Charter."

Kosovo's moment

Prime minister of Kosovo

09.03.2007 - 15:41 CET | By Agim Ceku EUOBSERVER / COMMENT -

Recent developments in our region outline a new phase for Kosovo - we are fast approaching Kosovo's moment of independence. The Ahtisaari plan outlines a vision for the future of Kosovo we can accept. Kosovo is ready for independence. We have done a great deal since 1999 to improve our institutional capacity and the Kosovo economic development plan is awaiting roll out. Kosovo - and consequently the region - are at last moving in the right direction.

We are positioning ourselves to become a major transportation and energy center for the region. This is not hubris, but a realistic assessment of Kosovo's future, confirmed among others by the World Bank. The energy potential of Kosovo is indeed vast. We are presently overseeing a $ 2.3 billion power project, which includes the building of a new power plant station and opening of an additional coal mine in the vicinity of Pristina. The total new electricity generation capacity potential of the project is around 2100 mega watts, which is a major addition to our electricity starved regional market.

Kosovo is the fifth largest lignite depository in the world. Ours is high surface lignite with low sulfuric concentration - like Saudi Arabian oil, it is cheap to access. At the same time it is relatively clean to burn. With the right technology - in this case clean coal - Kosovo's electricity sector is a great opportunity for both investors and for regional distributors. Electricity is the future energy agent poised to become the major fuel also for the transportation sector.

We are also discussing ways to develop wind and hydro potential in Kosovo. The government is preparing to privatize the airport. We are also about to start the construction of a major north-south road project. Kosovo connects Serbia to Albania and Macedonia to Montenegro. Connecting to the Albanian ports through Kosovo is the shortest way out of the Balkans for Serbian exporters. Already, Kosovo and Albania are building a 10 kilometer tunnel which will cut transportation time between Kosovo and Tirana by at least 6 hours.

Our population is young and growing, which is a rarity in Europe today. This means two things. The Kosovo market will keep growing, and our labour force if well trained can help offset the incoming social security crisis in Europe.

Albanian workers are diligent and business smart. We pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial abilities. My government has made education a priority. We intend to generate a labour force which can add value on the EU market. Travel restrictions to the EU remain a problem for Kosovo and our neighbours. Inflexible visa regimes are counterproductive. I understand that Europe must protect itself against illegal immigration and organized crime. But I also suspect it is the businessmen and the students that suffer most severely from this one-size-fits-all approach. Given the number of existing business and educational links between the region and the EU, the latter may wish to rethink its visa regime for the countries in the Western Balkans. Diplomacy is now our priority.

The Ahtisaari document on status is a good starting point. Our focus must be on building a functioning, not a divided, Kosovo. That's why the government has expressed some concerns with the proposals on decentralization. I support the measures designed to strengthen local governance. This way we would actually be protecting the Serbs in Kosovo who live scattered across the country. We need to ensure that our minorities will also be beneficiaries of the Kosovo economic development plan. My objective is to protect and integrate all of our minority citizens - whether they are Turkish or Croat, Serb or Gorani. Kosovo's independence is a special case, arising from our unique historical predicament - including of course the persecution of our citizens over generations.

The call for independence is founded as much on good judgement as idealism. It comes from constitutional and practical reality. It has moral and legal grounding. There is no functional alternative. An independent Kosovo is a necessary to ensure permanent economic growth and democratic development in the Western Balkans.

A decision on Kosovo's independence is also a precondition to do away with nationalist agendas which stand in the way of our collective progress towards full integration into the EU.

Romania and Bulgaria this year entered the EU, which only increases the pressure on the rest of us to take our economic development seriously. This is a critical phase in the transformation of the Balkan region and we need a united and progressive European policy in order to succeed. I have no illusions.

Independence will not solve all our problems - the end game for Kosovo is EU membership through economic development.

To get there we will need support, in particular from our EU friends. Our independence is linked with our interdependence. These are mutually complementary realities, and that's why I will continue to work as hard to develop a strong and prosperous region as I will to develop a strong and prosperous Kosovo.

The author is Prime minister of Kosovo