The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Dr. Fatmir Sejdiu and the Minister of Local Government and Administration, Mr. Sadri Ferati held today a press conference at Caglavica Media Centre, where they called on members of Serb community and other communities to participate and play an active part in 15 November elections.
Once again, President Sejdiu called on the members of Serb community to integrate themselves into all social and public fields of life.
“Once again, I invite all the members of Serb community, who are citizens and residents of Kosovo, to get involved in all fields of social and public lives. This would be to the benefit of us all, to the benefit of each family and to the benefit of all citizens. By calling you to participate in the municipal elections scheduled for November 15, we want to underscore that this is a good opportunity for us to display our joint power as citizens of Republic of Kosovo and, hence, exercise our civic rights, starting with fundamental ones up to others, for this is in the interest of each community. Accordingly, I have come today to extend this invitation to you with the best aim and objective to ensure a good cooperation with all our citizens, including Serbs and members of other communities” – President emphasized.
In addition to this, President said that he had come to Caglavica to convey Republic of Kosovo institutions’ message to all the people of our country to carry and follow through with November 2009 elections. Once again, he called on representatives of minority communities, including those of Serb community, to play an active role in this process, which primarily concerns the exercising of a constitutional and human right and, hereby, a way to fulfill the interests of each citizen.
On this occasion, President Sejdiu said that 15 November municipal elections represent a good opportunity to all Kosovo citizens to accomplish and materialize – by their direct participation in these elections – their political will for the people they want to elect and whom they want to entrust the leadership, so that the latter can, later on, by respecting the trust of their constituents, perform their functions as best as they can, by they mayors or members of municipal assemblies. In this context, the President welcomed the call of over 100 Serb intellectuals addressed to Kosovo Serbs to participate in November 15 elections. On the other hand, he deemed that Serbian authorities’ approach to discourage Kosovo Serbs from participating in these elections is irrational.
Moreover, the President said that good preparations have been made with the international community – with the ICO first of all – to organize elections in the three new Serb majority municipalities. He maintained that this was a chance to demonstrate all the positive energies to make these municipalities operational, which is another commitment that they have taken and which derives from Ahtisaari’s Proposal. “At the same time”, – he added – “this is a good chance to get actively involved in other major processes that affect the lives, the concerns and the interests of every citizen.”
President Sejdiu said that Kosovo’s vision is to show in practice that Kosovo is home to all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, and that they must be a part of an incessant and unwavering movement toward North-Atlantic integration.
With regard to relations with neighboring countries, President Sejdiu said that Kosovo’s institutions aim at fostering neighborly relations, such as those with the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, and that they aim at creating similar relations with the Republic of Serbia in the future. “The entire region”, – President Sejdiu added – “is obliged to develop and foster the spirit of cooperation further and to meet, by way of this cooperation, the major requirements for integration.
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