Kosovo is participating in all but a few of the Stability Pact’ 25 activities, task forces and initiatives. This is the result Special Co-ordinator could deliver on the occasion of his visit to Kosovo 27-28 January 2004, where he met with SRSG Harri Holkeri, Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi and members of UNMIK and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG). A stronger involvement of Kosovo was one of the decisions taken by the Stability Pact’s highest decision-making body, the so-called “Regional Table”, at its December 2002 meeting in Thessaloniki.
Kosovo is participating in activities such as cross-border co-operation in the Gjilan-Kumanovo-Presovo triangle; in gender issues, fostering an increased participation of women in politics; in trade and investment promotion, including free trade; in energy and regional infrastructure as well as in the initiative to fight organised crime; the Ohrid border management process and the collection of illicit weaponry in private possession.
The participation in these regional co-operation processes also supports and facilitates the implementation of certain parts of the “Standards for Kosovo”, namely the one on regional dialogue.
Special Co-ordinator Busek underlined that the involvement of Kosovo in the initiatives is not uniform, but has to be developed and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Some initiatives can accommodate Kosovo regardless of the open status question, in other domains, such as access to credit by International Financial Institutions or by concluding international treaties, the authority of UNMIK to engage in such contractual relations had to be previously determined. The participation of Kosovo is always in line with UN Resolution 1244, and the Stability Pact is not involved in questions relating to the status of Kosovo.
Busek was very confident that Kosovo’s involvement in the Stability Pact was instrumental for Kosovo to familiarise itself with international bodies and for experiencing regional cooperation first-hand, including the participation of members of PISG. He also extended an invitation to UNMIK and PISG to continue their efforts of participating in the Stability Pact also in the domains, where this is not yet the case, such as the Media Task Force of the Anti-Corruption Initiative (SPAI).
Annex: Overview of Stability Pact activities involving Kosovo
Stability Pact activities involving Kosovo
It has been a priority of the Stability Pact to help further integrate Kosovo into regional processes in South Eastern Europe. The Regional Table in Thessaloniki in December 2002 has requested the Stability Pact to “actively consider ways in which Kosovo, in accordance with UNSC Res. 1244, could be more integrated into the neighbouring region by fostering greater cross border/boundary cooperation.” The aim clearly is to prevent Kosovo from developing into a 'black hole' with negative consequences for itself and the region. Ensuring participation of UNMIK/Kosovo in regional cooperation processes will thus remain a priority for the Stability Pact.
Important steps have already been taken in this respect. While there have been reservations from Belgrade at earlier stages, we have been able to find agreeable solutions for the inclusion of UNMIK/Kosovo in most cases and participation of UNMIK and PISG representatives in Stability Pact meetings have become a normality in the course of 2003. The partner of the Stability Pact in these endeavours is UNMIK, which decides about the involvement of PISG or other partners. Currently UNMIK/Kosovo is participating in most SP activities as outlined below.
Working Table on Democracy and Human Rights
· Media: The aim of the Media Task Force (MTF) is to enhance the position of independent media and standards of journalism in SEE through legislative reform, production of quality programmes and increased strength of local institutions for journalism training. The Executive Secretary of the MTF was on the Board of RTK, but beyond that the incorporation of Kosovo into the work of the MTF is limited. The possibilities of establishing a Media Working Group in Kosovo could be further explored in order to make use of lessons-learned from other SEE countries.
· Local Democracy and Cross-border Co-operation: The aim of this SP initiative is to promote capacity building of local authorities and to provide political support for the development and implementation of concrete local and regional cross-border activities. A specific Kosovo-related initiative is the regular mayoral meetings of Gjilan-Kumanovo-Presevo (most recently in September 2003) in cooperation with the Stability Pact. Additional involvement of Kosovo should be envisaged in particular regarding capacity building of local government actors.
· Education and Youth: The aim of the Education and Youth Task Force is to support national education reform efforts in the perspective of EU integration and to actively promote regional co-operation at system, expert and civil society level in support of the Stabilisation and Association Processes. Efforts are being made to have UNMIK participate in activities under the MoU on the SEE Education Reform Initiative, which serves as an interface between ongoing SEE education reform at national level and European trends to achieve common European standards in education.
· Gender Issues: The SP Gender Task Force has implemented several projects with full participation from Kosovo. The Women Can Do It project is supporting locally elected women representatives of municipal councils by providing training in various skills helping them to take a more prominent role in municipalities and assisting in networking. The Women Mayors Link has supported women mayors on the regional level in networking and exchanging experiences. Roma Women can Do it has conducted local training seminars for Roma women in Kosovo.
Working Table on Economic Reconstruction and Development
· Energy and other Regional Infrastructure: The aim of the Stability Pact in this sector is to ensure that both the countries of the region and the international community take a regional strategic approach to infrastructure development based on co-financing and institutionalised partnerships including transport (roads, rail, air) and energy, with a view to prioritising capital investment in order to benefit from economies of scale. UNMIK is a full participant of the Regional Energy Market (REM) since September 2002 and has signed the two relevant MoUs. Furthermore, UNMIK is participating in the Regional Balkans Infrastructure Study (REBIS) since September 2002, aimed at establishing a regional approach towards the Core Transport Network. UNMIK is fully integrated in the preparation of the study and it is currently envisaged that it will sign the relevant MoU and will also participate in the work of the SEE Transport Observatory, envisaged as a regional coordination centre in the REBIS study.
· Trade and Investment: The aim of the Stability Pact in this area is to foster a business climate conducive to investment, trade and employment, through the implementation of the free trade agreements (FTA) and the use of monitoring processes such as the Investment Compact, thereby fostering capital and know-how transfer and thus the basis for sustainable economic development in SEE. UNMIK together with PISG representatives has been participating officially since February 2003 as an observer in the Trade Working Group, most recently in the Trade Ministerial in November in Rome. UNMIK has furthermore started participating in the Investment Compact for SEE in May 2003. The aim of the Investment Compact is the development of country specific policy recommendations as well as the monitoring of progress in policy implementation, improvement of the investment conditions and investment performance in SEE. Moreover, in 2003 a Kosovo businessman has joined the Business Advisory Council (BAC), which aims to build viable partnerships between governments and the private sector in the region through identifying specific obstacles to trade, infrastructure and investment and promoting viable strategies for removing them. In September 2003 a first BAC mission brought international business people to Kosovo to discuss the investment environment.
· Environmental Issues: UNMIK is participating in activities under the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme (REREP), such as for example Environmental Management Assistance to the Kosovo Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning.
· Information Society: The electronic-SEE (eSEE) initiative addresses issues of building the Information Society in SEE, allowing the countries to tap into the potential of information and communication technologies and associating the SEE countries with the EU eEurope+ process. UNMIK is participating in the Working Group since June 2003.
· Initiative for Social Cohesion: The overall objective of the Initiative is to address social issues that affect the daily lives of citizens of SEE through regional approaches in the field of health, social protection, employment policy and vocational training, social dialogue and housing. UNMIK has participated in the Ministerial Conference on Employment in Bucharest in October 2003 and signed the Bucharest Declaration on improving Employment in SEE.
Working Table on Security Issues
· Organized Crime: The objective of the SPOC initiative is to strengthen regional capacities to combat organized crime in accordance with internationally recognized standards. The Initiative focuses on the adoption of policies, strategies and legislation, the development of multi-disciplinary inter-agency co-ordination mechanisms, encouraging the establishment of specialized units and the enhancement of regional and international co-operation. UNMIK is a full member of the initiative and has participated in recent Ministerial meetings organised in collaboration with the SEECP in Sarajevo in June and October 2003. Operational links between UNMIK and the Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime in Bucharest have been established, allowing the Centre to include UNMIK Police officers in its Task Forces' operations. UNMIK has requested observer status in the Centre, which will be considered at the next meeting of the JCC in March 2004.
· Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI): The aim of the initiative is to improve the management of population movements in the SEE. MARRI aims to develop closer regional cooperation – of particular importance when addressing dynamic, cross-border movements of people – and promotes a comprehensive, integrated and coherent approach to the related issues of asylum, migration, border management, visa policies and refugee return and settlement. UNMIK has participated in the initiative (as well as the precursor RRI) since 2002, most recently in several of the Working Groups established under MARRI, particularly on Return and Border Management, as well as the MARRI Steering Committee.
· Ohrid Process on Border Management and Security: The aim of the process is to develop a coherent and concerted approach to the issues of Border Management and Security in SEE. The objective is the establishment of open but controlled and secure borders across the entire region by improving the efficiency of border management and increasing coordination at various levels - internal, bilateral and multilateral. UNMIK has participated in the initial Ohrid Conference in May 2003 as well as the first follow-up meeting in Belgrade in November 2003.
· Police Forum: The aim of the initiative is to support police training and regional co-operation of police and border police forces in SEE. Under the Organized Crime Training Network (OCTN) project, the Head of the Kosovo Organized Crime Bureau (KOCB) and the Kosovo Police School have been invited to participate in the network. In this way, police officers from Kosovo will be included in the training modules under the UNMIK umbrella.
· Trafficking in Human Beings: The fight against trafficking in human beings requires a co-ordinated, interdisciplinary and international response. As a transnational problem, it needs to be tackled through an integrated approach at national, regional and international levels. Countries of origin, transit and destination must work together in order to achieve significant progress. The SP Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings aims to bring the relevant players on the different levels together towards establishment of a comprehensive strategy to counter trafficking. UNMIK is a full member of the SPTF since September 2002 and most recently has signed a statement against human trafficking at the 4th Regional Ministerial Forum of the Task Force. UNMIK has participated in the development of the regional training on human trafficking for police and is part of the training for judges and prosecutors. An Anti-Trafficking Conference was held in Pristina in October 2003 with SPTF involvement.
· Disaster Preparedness and Prevention: The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative (DPPI) aims to coordinate ongoing activities and identify remaining needs to improve the efficiency of national disaster management systems and to endorse a framework for regional cooperation. UNMIK, in particular the Kosovo Protection Corps, participates since 2003 as full member in the DPPI project on Disaster Management Training for SEE.
· Small Arms and Light Weapons: The aim of the initiative is to combat the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. The SALW Regional Clearinghouse in Belgrade functions as a first point of contact and source of expertise in this respect. Since May 2002, UNMIK participates as a full member in the Regional Steering Group for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in South Eastern Europe, most recently in the RSG meeting in Zagreb in October 2003.
While the degree of UNMIK/Kosovo involvement in these activities varies and could be enhanced in some areas, UNMIK/Kosovo is so far not involved in particular in the Parliamentary Cooperation activities of the SP or the SP Anti-Corruption initiative.
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