Press Briefing Notes
18 January 2006
UNMIK Spokesperson Remi Dourlot KFOR Dy Chief PIO Lt. Col. Peter Buch OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke UNMIK Police Spokesperson Kelly Collins Mcmurry
UNMIK Spokesperson Remi Dourlot: Good morning. Two announcements. 1. UNMIK on 16 January promulgated Regulation 2006/01 amending UNMIK regulation 2005/56 on a surcharge of net corporate profits for enterprises operating from a dominant market position within Kosovo, which was promulgated 24 December 2005. The Regulation is promulgated to clarify and facilitate the interpretation of the term “Annual profit after taxes”. It defines the notion as “the sum of annual profit remaining after deduction of due and payable taxes, including corporate income tax. The surcharge shall be a tax payment to made in addition to corporate income tax payable by the taxpayer and is due starting with the calendar year ending on 31 December 2005. 2. A background briefing for journalists on bird flu in Kosovo will take place tomorrow (Thursday 19) at 11.00 in the building of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Forestry (MAFRD), in room 227. The briefing will be conducted by Qaush Kabashi, Kosovo Chief veterinarian, and William Gardner. SRSG programme Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, the SRSG will attend and address a Round Table on FINAL STATUS OF KOSOVO AND THE POSITION OF ROMA AND ASHKALI COMMUNITIES, which will be held in the Grand Hotel, starting at 9.30. The Round Table is organized by NGOs CII (Centre for international integration) / QIN and Durmish Asllano under patronage of the SOROS Kosovo Foundation for Open Society.
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KFOR Deputy Chief PIO Lt. Col. Peter Buch: No announcements. UNMIK Police Spokesperson Kelly Collins Mcmurry:
Good morning everyone. A few brief announcements by the police today. The Police Commissioner and Colonel Ahmeti promised you last month the crime statistics and accidents statistics for the past year have been compiled. They are available. They can be picked up at the end of this briefing by the KPS press officers in the room. After reviewing the material, should you have any questions, please free to contact the Press Office. And second, the 32th generation class of KPS recruits began at the Police Academy in Vushtrri /Vučitrn this past Monday. The Commissioner wanted you to be aware that the ethnic composition of this class is quite diverse. The class is made of over 15% female and over 28% of minorities. This confirms what the Commissioner and Colonel Ahmeti discussed with you last month; that minorities are indeed applying to the KPS Police service in significant numbers and they are being hired in significant numbers to show the diversity of Kosovo in the Service. The Commissioner asked us to also make these statistics available to you. So there will be also available at the end of the briefing. Again if you have any question after looking at the material, please free to contact the Press Office. Thank you. .
OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm:
Report to the OSCE Permanent Council Ambassador Werner Wnendt, OSCE Head of Mission, is in Vienna to speak before the OSCE Permanent Council. His report will include an update of the political situation in Kosovo and activities of the Mission. Assembly Laws Today the OSCE will be briefing Assembly Committee Chairpersons, heads of parliamentary groups and Presidency members the report we issued at the end of last year on implementation of laws passed by the Kosovo Assembly during 2004. To reiterate, the general assessment of this report, and its companion issued in early 2005 on laws passed in 2002-2003, finds that most ministries continue to make considerable progress in drafting subsidiary legislation, but also major room for improvement in some ministries and in the Government is still necessary. The importance of this type of reporting by the OSCE lies in its re-enforcement of the principles of good governance and accountability, as it is designed as a tool to be used by the Government, and is part of our on-going work with the PISG to help better equip them for the job they have been given. Recommendations, will be stressed in this briefing, are for the establishment of additional parliamentary oversight over the executive branch.
EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke:
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No announcement to make. Questions:
RTK: I have a few questions to both UNMIK and UNMIK Police. Concerning the March riots could you please give us an idea on how the Serbian Ministry of Interior managed to provide you with information from the witnesses and victims of the March riots ? Are you aware of this? Remi Dourlot : No. I would have to check. Follow up: It is specifically said in the Technical Assessment of the standards fulfilment document, which is done by the UN Officials and is dated by the January 6th, that the responsibility for the investigations has been passed on to the Kosovo Police Service Regional Crime squad, but that there is a continuation of supply of information by the Serbian Ministry of Interior with the witnesses reports, from the witnesses victims. Remi Dourlot : No, I don’t have information on this and I will not comment on what is supposed to be in the document because in fact, the technical assessment to my knowledge is not public. So I will certainly not comment about this. Follow up by RTK: It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. I have got it. Remi Dourlot : Again I haven’t seen that document myself so I can not tell you what it is inside, in any case this document will not be made public until we have the Secretary General Report on the last six months, by the end of this month, before the meeting of the Security Council. Q : A Question for UNMIK: How do you comment the news that on Church land in Gjakova/Djakovica, a monument has been build to the former KLA members? Do you consider it an usurpation or occupation of a church land and will UNMIK take action in this regard? And do you have a confirmation from the Albanian side on who will participate in the meeting in Vienna in the 25th of January? Remi Dourlot : For the first question concerning Gjakova/Djakovica, I understand the status of the land where the monument is being build is not clear. But in any case, we have always said in any occasion concerning a use of land or monuments that belong to the Church, that whatever is done there should have approbation of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Follow up: And which action will you take in this regard? Remi Dourlot: We have always said that we have powers but we want the authorities – and in this case I understand it would be the Municipal authorities in Gjakova/Djakovica - to consult the Church first and then, depending on the outcome of this consultation, UNMIK will take appropriate action. The second question is about the meeting in Vienna? Follow up: Yes. Do you have the confirmation from the Albanian side that they will participate in the meeting scheduled in Vienna on the 25th of January?
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Remi Dourlot : It’s not up to us to confirm their participation but since they have been invited by the Special Envoy we hope very much that they will participate. That is all I can tell you. RTK: Remi, could you please give us an update what the situation is with the BT [British Telecom] deal on the strategic alliance with the PTK? Mechthild Henneke, Pillar IV: Well, the suspension has been lifted and I think PTK is again working on it together with BT, but nothing concluded yet as far as I know. RTK: So as far as you know, the BT hasn’t pull out the deal? Mechthild Henneke: No. Remi Dourlot : More questions? No more questions? Thank you.
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