(May 21: Powell, Svilanovic, Djindjic after their meeting) (1260)
Secretary of State Colin Powell certified May 21 that the authorities
in
Belgrade have been cooperating with the International Criminal
Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
This certification allows suspended U.S. aid to
resume, Powell told
reporters during a joint media appearance with Foreign
Minister Goran
Svilanovic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Prime
Minister Zoran
Djindjic of the Republic of Serbia, Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.
"THERE is still more that we will have to do in the months ahead, and I
am
impressed by the commitment that my colleagues have again presented to
me
and provided to me that they intend to keep moving relentlessly
forward
until justice has been served," Powell said.
Djindjic said he was "very satisfied" with his meeting with Powell and
the
removal of an obstacle to U.S.-Yugoslav relations. The certification
"is
not just about financial aid and about money; it is about the
strategic
partnership between our two countries," he said, reiterating
his
government's commitment to stability in the Balkans, continuing
reforms,
human rights, minority rights, a market economy, and membership in
the
family of democratic European countries.
Calling the certification "an important step forward in relations,"
Powell
said "the way is now clear" for the Bush administration to approach
the
U.S. Congress regarding normal trading relations between the United
States
and Yugoslavia.
Following is the State Department transcript of their remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman
May 21, 2002
REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL, FOREIGN MINISTER
GORAN
SVILANOVIC OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA, AND PRIME MINISTER
ZORAN
DJINDJIC OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA,
AFTER
THEIR MEETING
May 21, 2002
C Street Entrance
Washington, D.C.
(10:22 a.m. EDT)
SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's my pleasure
to
welcome once again to the Department Prime Minister Djindjic and
Foreign
Minister Svilanovic. And we have had a good discussion, and I was
pleased
to advise my colleagues that earlier this morning I signed
a
certification, required under US law, that we have been receiving
the
necessary cooperation from the authorities in Belgrade with respect to
the
International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia. And as a result of
my
signing the certification, we'll be able to allow that aid that has
been
suspended to resume again.
I did it on the basis of new laws that have been passed in
Belgrade,
voluntary surrenders that have taken place, and indictments that
have been
issued to those who remain still outside the jurisdiction of the
Tribunal.
I also noted Kosovar Albanians released and other actions that have
been
taken on the part of the government in Belgrade that demonstrated to
me
that cooperation has improved.
There is still more that we will have to do in the months ahead, and I
am
impressed by the commitment that my colleagues have again presented to
me
and provided to me that they intend to keep moving relentlessly
forward
until justice has been served. And of course we are very anxious to
work
with them to see if Mr. Mladic can be brought to justice.
But I think this is an important step forward in relations between our
two
countries. We are also interested in improving things economically
as
well, so we will be taking actions through our OFAC branch at the
Treasury
Department to begin the process of unfreezing assets that had
been
previously frozen, start the thawing process. It takes a while.
And so Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Foreign Minister, it's a pleasure
to
have you here, and I am pleased to have been able to make
the
certification this morning.
Sir.
PRIME MINISTER DJINDJIC: Thank you. Well, I am very satisfied with
this
meeting of course, and we have removed an obstacle in our relations.
And
it is not just about financial aid and about money; it is about
the
strategic partnership between our two countries. And we are of
course
committed to continue our reforms and to try to stabilize our region,
the
Balkan region, and to move forward in the direction of human
rights,
minority rights, market economy, and to join the democratic family
of
European countries, with of course supports from American side.
FOREIGN MINISTER SVILANOVIC: Well, I thank you, Mr. Secretary. We
take
this as an acknowledgement for what we did during the last year and
a
half, seeing the changes in our country. And we believe that we are on
a
good path to really have a new redefined relationship between
two
countries.
We appreciate your personal commitment to help us by certifying, and
you
should be sure that we are going to continue improving our
cooperation
with the ICTY and we'll continue improving our relationship with
Bosnia as
well.
So I hope that this step will provide for us a new environment and that
we
will have more result next time we see each other as far as our
frozen
assets are concerned, but also a normalized trade relation between
two
countries that would provide the opportunity for the companies from
your
country to join an emerging market that is now being created in
Balkans,
not only by our country but by the countries around us with whom we
have
really massively improved our relationship, because we take it as
a
necessity to stabilize the region and achieve a long-lasting peace
in
Balkans.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. One or two questions.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, and also to the other leaders. Can you give
us
some specific steps that you're going to take to go after the
war
criminals that haven't been yet apprehended? I guess that's more for
them
than you, sir. You know, they've been outstanding for so long, and
there's
got to be more you can do.
FOREIGN MINISTER SVILANOVIC: Yes, but that is just a technical question
in
Belgrade. After we have passed the law, that is not more political
debate
about that. So that is huge progress we have made. And now the
police
should do its job and find these people and transfer to Hague, and I
am
sure it will happen very soon.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what are the steps towards Most Favored
Nation
status?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are working on normal trading relations, and I
think
as a result of my certification today, the way is now clear for us
to
approach the Congress and continue our deliberations within
the
administration, then approach the Congress with respect to normal
trading
relations. And we're working on that and we talked about that earlier
this
morning. It will take a while to find a legislative vehicle to move
it
forward and to get ourselves all coordinated within the
administration.
QUESTION: What about the handover of documents? The governments have
been
asked to do more to hand over documents to the Tribunal. Is there
any
progress to be made on that?
SECRETARY POWELL: We've had some progress on access to archives, but
I
think I will allow them to say a word about it.
FOREIGN MINISTER SVILANOVIC: Well, what we did is we have brought the
new
law in cooperation with the ICTY and we have formed a national council
for
cooperation with ICTY that I chair, and we have started full
cooperation
that includes the access to the archives and documents. So some
steps have
already been done, and more are going to be done in the near
future.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs,
U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN
