BELGRADE, 3 July 2000 FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA YUGOSLAVIA'S MILOSEVIC OFFERS FELICITATIONS TO VETERANS ON THEIR DAY SERBIAN PRESIDENT OFFERS FIGHTERS' DAY FELICITATIONS TO VETERANS MINISTER JOVANOVIC INAUGURATES BRIDGE NEAR MIJATOVAC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY OPENS IN YUGOSLAVIA'S KOTOR * * * YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA YUGOSLAVIA, RUSSIA SEE CHANCE OF PROMOTING MUTUALLY USEFUL TIES * * * YUGOSLAVIA - IRAQ IVKOVIC ENDS VISIT TO IRAQ * * * BULGARIA - YUGOSLAVIA BULGARIAN ASSOCIATION DEMANDS RESIGNATION OF FOREIGN POLICY COMMISSION CHIEF * * * KOSOVO-METOHIJA - SITUATION KOSOVO-METOHIJA'S ALBANIAN LEADER ACCUSES WEST OF LYING KOSOVO-METOHIJA'S ETHNIC EGYPTIANS PROUD OF ETHNICITY FORMER MACEDONIAN MINISTER INSISTS ETHNIC ALBANIAN KLA NOT DISARMED * * * KOSOVO-METOHIJA - TERRORISM ROMANY HOUSE BLOWN UP IN KOSOVSKA VITINA * * * EU - BALKANS E.U. AID TO BALKAN COUNTRIES NOT FORTHCOMING * * * FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA YUGOSLAVIA'S MILOSEVIC OFFERS FELICITATIONS TO VETERANS ON THEIR DAY BELGRADE, July 3 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Monday sent a message of cordial felicitations to Yugoslav World War II veterans on the occasion of Fighters' Day, July 4. The glorious National Liberation War of the Yugoslav people and their victory over fascism in World War II have placed Yugoslavia and its nations among the states and nations that contributed the most to the defeat of fascism, which the whole world has recognised. The freedom fighters have our eternal gratitude and respect, the message reads. SERBIAN PRESIDENT OFFERS FIGHTERS' DAY FELICITATIONS TO VETERANS BELGRADE, July 3 (Tanjug) - President of the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia Milan Milutinovic has sent a message of felicitations to Yugoslav Veterans' Association (SUBNOR) President Milutin Markovic on the occasion of Fighters' Day, July 4. The message reads: "Offering heroic resistance to the onslaught of fascism, veterans of the National Liberation War had bravely, resolutely and patriotically risen in the defence of the freedom of their nation and the independence of Yugoslavia. "In the same glorious freedom-loving tradition, our present-day fighters showed the same courage and intrepidity and defended Yugoslavia from NATO's aggression last year and protected freedom as the greatest human value." MINISTER JOVANOVIC INAUGURATES BRIDGE NEAR MIJATOVAC MIJATOVAC, July 3 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic on Monday inaugurated a bridge over the Velika Morava river in Mijatovac which is part of the Belgrade-Nis highway E-75, ending construction within the second phase of renewal of the traffic infrastructure destroyed in the 1999 NATO aggression on Yugoslavia. "Results in our country's renewal and construction are of general importance for mankind and prove that the greatest things can be achieved with unity, relying on one's own forces, and openness to cooperation," Jovanovic said at a big popular rally on the bridge. "Such a policy, of which our President Slobodan Milosevic is the symbol, such results in defense and renewal, present the greatest guarantees that we will succeed in protecting our national and state interests, in preserving our freedom and developing our country as modern, rich and strong in every respect," Jovanovic said. Indicating that Yugoslavia is convinced the future of the Balkans is in linking, integration and cooperation, Jovanovic said this was in the interest of all peoples in the region, and that it was also a contribution to Europe, its peace, stability and prosperity. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY OPENS IN YUGOSLAVIA'S KOTOR KOTOR, Yugoslavia, July 3 (Tanjug) - An international school of ecology opened on Monday in the coastal town of Kotor in the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro. The school, to close on July 16, will be attended by 30 young men and women from four continents, and the curriculum includes lectures by prominent authorities on environmental and marine protection and natural features of Montenegro. Opening the school, Montenegrin Minister of Education and Science Dragan Kujovic said that the summer school in Kotor is in the nature of a research workshop and a stride in the direction of expanding cooperation with the United World Colleges. The organisers of the school are the United World Colleges, the Montenegrin Ministry of Education and Science, the Institute for International Cultural and Scientific Cooperation and the Kotor Institute of Marine Biology. YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA YUGOSLAVIA, RUSSIA SEE CHANCE OF PROMOTING MUTUALLY USEFUL TIES BELGRADE, July 3 (Tanjug) - Contacts between Yugoslav and Russian businessmen to date have shown there are good prospects for promoting mutually useful economic cooperation, in which both sides are very much interested, according to their officials on Monday. Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce President Mihailo Milojevic was meeting with Russia's Ambassador in Belgrade Valery Egoshkin. Joint production and investments should be promoted as much as possible as a means of forging closer and more durable economic ties which, in turn, are conducive to the development of the two economies, it was noted during the meeting. Egoshkin said he had assured himself that the Yugoslav economy is robust and is recovering at a surprising rate, despite anti-Yugoslav international sanctions, from last year's NATO-wreaked devastation. This opens scope for Yugoslav exports to the Russian market, with Yugoslav companies, despite difficulties, manufacturing high-quality goods in which Russia is interested, he added. Milojevic, in turn, said there was a chance of a greater involvement of Yugoslav construction firms and building materials manufacturers on joint projects. YUGOSLAVIA - IRAQ IVKOVIC ENDS VISIT TO IRAQ BAGHDAD, July 3 (Tanjug) - A delegation of the Serbian Science and Technology Ministry, led by Minister Branislav Ivkovic, ended its several days' long visit to Iraq after signing an agreement on numerous important projects, on cooperation in education, including post-graduate and doctoral studies. During his stay in Baghdad, Minister Ivkovic was received by Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan, as well as by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz. Talks were also held with several Iraqi ministers regarding particular aspects of bilateral cooperation. During the talks with the hosts, it was stated that cooperation in scientific research and technological development represented a basis for further improvement of general relations between Yugoslavia and Iraq. BULGARIA - YUGOSLAVIA BULGARIAN ASSOCIATION DEMANDS RESIGNATION OF FOREIGN POLICY COMMISSION CHIEF SOFIA, July 3 (Tanjug) - The Bulgarian association "Djurdjevdan" has asked for the irrevocable resignation of the national Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee President Asen Agov because he told a rally in Berlin last week that Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province "should be granted independence since ethnic Albanian leaders persistently demand this." The statement, as carried by Bulgarian media, disturbed the local public and both right and left political circles. In late January this year, Agov made several comments after a meeting between rightist League of Democratic Forces leader and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and Kosovo Albanian terrorist and separatist leader Hashim Thaci. Agov had said "Kosovo should be given independence" and "Bulgaria has changed its stand on the southern Serbian province." For a whole week after these statements, the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Nadezda Mihailova and President Peter Stoyanov had tried to deny Agov's words, reiterating that Bulgaria has not changed its stand and that it is "for strict and due respect of Yugoslavia's territorial independence and sovereignty, since any changes in borders in the Balkans would destabilize all of Europe." The opposition had described Agov's statement at the time as a major political blunder. KOSOVO-METOHIJA - SITUATION KOSOVO-METOHIJA'S ALBANIAN LEADER ACCUSES WEST OF LYING PRISTINA, July 2 (Tanjug) - The ethnic Albanian Democratic Reform Party leader in Kosovo-Metohija on Saturday said western media were spreading unfounded and malicious lies when they said ethnic Albanians in Serbian prisons were tortured. Sokol Quse, who is also a member of the Kosovo-Metohija Provisional Executive Council, was speaking for the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper's correspondents in Pristina, in the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia's U.N.-administered Kosovo-Metohija province. Quse denounced as lies allegations made by some ethnic Albanians who have recently been released from prison in central Serbia that they were tortured in prison. "There is no difference in the treatment of prisoners according to their nationality, but only according to the gravity of their crimes. "I was personally in a position to meet in Kosovo-Metohija and speak with people who have been released and have returned home after serving their sentences", Quse said. He quoted ethnic Albanians released from detention as saying that the "prison staff and warders were absolutely correct in their attitude. "All allegations of danger to ethnic Albanians come solely from leaders of the ethnic Albanian so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and traitors loyal to the terrorists". KOSOVO-METOHIJA'S ETHNIC EGYPTIANS PROUD OF ETHNICITY BELGRADE, July 2 (Tanjug) - An ethnic Egyptian leader in Kosovo- Metohija says that "members of this ethnic community in Serbia's southern province have been speaking with pride of their ethnic identity in new democratic processes in Yugoslavia since 1990". The community's statement on Sunday quotes Cerim Abazi, member of the Provisional Executive Council of Kosovo-Metohija, as saying ethnic Egyptians in the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia are recognised as an ethnic community. They have their registered newspaper and representation in political and social organisations, and were represented in the state delegation to talks at Rambouillet and Paris, France, in early 1999, Abazi said. Abazi was speaking at a conference on the position of ethnic Egyptians in the Balkans, especially in Kosovo-Metohija, held in Ohrid, Macedonia, on June 23-24. He stressed that the ethnic Egyptian community urges coexistence in the southern Serbian province. FORMER MACEDONIAN MINISTER INSISTS ETHNIC ALBANIAN KLA NOT DISARMED SKOPJE, July 2 (Tanjug) - Macedonia's former defence minister Lazar Kitanovski insists he has reliable information that the ethnic Albanian terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in U.N.-ruled Kosovo-Metohija has not been disarmed and has units in Macedonia. Kitanovski told Skopje's Start magazine the terrorist KLA in Macedonia is growing into an "Albanian National Army" (ANA), which is already setting up commands in Tetovo, Gostivar and Kicevo in the west, and is germinating in Struga and Debar. The new ethnic Albanian terrorist formation is shifting the focus of operations to Skopje and Kumanovo in northern Macedonia, according to Kitanovski. "These facts are known to the international factor", he stressed, adding that, while heading the defence ministry, he had himself repeatedly brought this to the attention of western statesmen. He said he had especially drawn their attention to illegal operations of Kosovo-Metohija's Albanians, who trafficked in arms and drugs and so gleaned funds for financing terrorist operations in Kosovo-Metohija. According to Kitanovski, the self-proclaimed freedom fighters are in fact criminals, and behind their operations in Macedonia, just as in Kosovo-Metohija, is a long-term aspiration for a "Greater Albania". KOSOVO-METOHIJA - TERRORISM ROMANY HOUSE BLOWN UP IN KOSOVSKA VITINA KOSOVSKA VITINA, July 3 (Tanjug) - The house of Saipi Saban in the Romany part of Kosovska Vitina was blown up early on Monday and the strength of the blast disturbed its citizens, amateur radio operators reported from the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. Saban is one of the richest Romanies in Kosovska Vitina, and his house was the biggest in that part of town. This is probably the very reason why it was targeted by ethnic Albanian terrorists. The house was destroyed in the same manner as the church of St. Paraskeva in Podgorica village near Kosovska Vitina some time ago. There is no doubt that these are actions by the same group of well-trained dynamite experts who manage to raze the entire building. The existence of such a group also poses a threat to members of the international force KFOR and the U.N. civilian mission UNMIK. EU - BALKANS E.U. AID TO BALKAN COUNTRIES NOT FORTHCOMING BRUSSELS, July 3 (Tanjug) - The European Union (E.U.) has done nothing to realize many projects in the Balkans, which it had pledged to finance, with the excuse that there is too much red tape at its Brussels Headquarters, it was heard at a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Salzburg, according to Brussels media reports on Sunday. Many projects have been postponed because of differences and conflicts at the E.U. Headquarters regarding manner of financing and choice of companies which would be engaged on the programs, Stabilization Pact coordinator Bodo Hombach said in a talk with reporters after the WEF meeting. The object of the Stabilization Pact, which had been signed immediately following the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia, was to contribute to the renewal and reconstruction of the economies of Balkan countries after the NATO aggression, but it has since been proven to be a political forum which is managed by the leaders of the western military alliance. A year after the end of the air strikes, not a single important project has begun to be realized, just like none of the financial promises made by E.U. and NATO members to Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania for their governments' support and help to the aggression have been honoured. __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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