KOSOVO: NATO SECRETARY RASMUSSEN TO PRISTINA ON 13/8, PRESS
(ANSAmed) - PRISTINA, AUGUST 10 - NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Kosovo this week, according to the country's newspapers. Rasmussen will reportedly arrive in Pristina on August 13. During his visit he will have meetings with the commander of the NATO Kosovo Forced (KFOR), Giuseppe Emilio Gay, with the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu and the country's prime minister, Hasim Taci. Rasmussen will also see the minister for Kosovo security forces, Fehmi Mujota. In his first press conference, two weeks ago in Brussels, Rasmussen announced his plans to reduce the number of NATO troops in Kosovo: "By the end of my mandate I want KFOR to be reduced to a small reaction force, or to withdraw completely," he said. The NATO-KFOR force counts around 15,000 troops. On June 10 the NATO defence ministers approved the gradual reduction of KFOR troops starting by the end of this year, with an initial reduction to 10,000, down to 2,300 within two years. (ANSAmed). 2009-08-10 20:21 http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/[email protected] __._,_.___
