"No need for Thaci to come to Belgrade"

Source: Beta, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has said that he "doubts" that Hashim Thaci will come to Belgrade "without an agreement with the Serbian government."

(Beta, file)

Dacic was asked to comment on announcements from Pristina that Thaci, who serves as Kosovo's foreign minister and deputy prime minister, would this month attend a conference in Belgrade organized by an NGO.
"You don't think that he will really come here without an agreement with the Serbian government," Dacic asked reporters on Wednesday, and then noted that the gathering will be organized "by the civil sector, not the government."

"I have no plans to participate, so I don't think there's any need to go," he was quoted as saying, and adding:

"We have no information about that, we found out (about the conference) from the media."

Dacic then described Thaci's announced trip to Belgrade as "unilateral action," and remarked that "such serious issues should not be the subject of a frivolous approach."

Asked "whether Thaci's arrival could represent a problem," and, "whether some investigative procedure is being taken against him," Dacic replied: "I think there's no need for him to come here."

Dacic added that "the two sides have made many steps to normalize relations, in a manner that was mutually agreed on - but this has not been agreed on."