At its session held on 9 December 2005, the Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia discussed the Action Plan of the Committee and the Ministry of the Diaspora for the preservation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia over the territory of Kosovo and Metohia.

The team charged with creating the Plan for the Contribution of the Diaspora to the Preservation of Serbia’s Sovereignty over the Territory of Kosovo and Metohia was formed at the joint session of the Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia and the Ministry of the Diaspora held on 2 December 2005. The State Secretary of the Ministry of the Diaspora, Aleksandar Cotric, was elected team head, while deputies Zeljko Tomic, Radoslav Zdravkovic, Sanja Cekovic, and Committee secretary Zoran Djumic, were elected to the team. The Ministry of the Diaspora nominated Assistants to the Minister Miodrag Jaksic, Vukman Krivokuca, and Miodrag Bozovic, to the team.

At today’s session, the Action Plan of the Joint Team for Kosovo and Metohia of the Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia and the Ministry of the Diaspora was presented by the Ministry’s State Secretary, Aleksandar Cotric. On behalf of the Team, Mr Cotric asked the Committee to endorse measures and activities the Team was to implement pursuant to the Resolution of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on the Mandate for Political Negotiations on the Future Status of Kosovo and Metohia.

According to the Plan, the Team is to co-ordinate activities of the diaspora relating to the status of Kosovo and Metohia, by organising meetings and talks with foreign officials and representatives of international organisations, as well as by holding working meetings, public rallies, panel discussions, news conferences, and other activities. The Plan also calls for the engagement of a media consultancy to create a campaign, define target groups, and come up with slogans and audio and video presentations about issues relating to Kosovo and Metohia.

The need was stressed for a common approach to be adopted by all key bodies from Serbia and the diaspora; full co-operation should also be ensured between the diaspora and government institutions, while representatives of the diaspora ought to be acquainted with all documents outlining positions on the territorial integrity of Serbia and her sovereignty over Kosovo and Metohia. As set out in the Action Plan, the Team’s task will also be to regularly inform representatives of the diaspora of opinions of the national negotiating team; conversely, the diaspora will be expected to regularly report to the negotiating team on their activities aimed at resolving the status of Kosovo and Metohia.

One of the Team’s aims will be to co-operate with the Washington, DC office of the Serbian Unity Congress, and the Institute of Serbia and Montenegro, based in Brussels, Belgium, to strengthen the ‘Serbian lobby’ and win over public opinion and prominent political figures, as well as present the truth about Kosovo and Metohia in the media.

The Plan goes on the underline the necessity of arranging a meeting between Committee members and Ministry officials with members of the Serbian caucus in the United States Congress, adding that meetings between prominent members of the diaspora in Belgrade, Brussels, Vienna and Strasbourg have already been scheduled.

Committee members endorsed the Action Plan of the Joint Team for Kosovo and Metohia, and requested the Government of the Republic of Serbia to provide funding for the Team’s activities. The Plan is to be forwarded to the Co-ordinating Centre for Kosovo and Metohia and the national negotiating team.

The Committee’s session was attended by the Minister of the Diaspora, Vojislav Vukcevic, and his associates, the Vice-Chairperson of the Serbian Unity Congress in the United States, Dr Edita Krunic, as well as the head of the Serbian Unity Congress Belgrade Office, Slavka Draskovic.

Ms Krunic presented a number of ideas about the future activities of the diaspora. She stressed that it was essential to set up professional Serb teams in ‘seats of power’ in order to make lobbying more efficient; a central office should also be formed and tasked with collecting all information about activities of the Team and the diaspora.

The session was chaired by the Committee’s chairman, Miljko Cetrovic.