Kyiv and Belgrade Complement Politics With Economics
The major objectives of the governments of Ukraine and Yugoslavia are to complement their existing high degree of political trust with concrete economic deeds, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh declared on October 1 at the start of the talks with his Yugoslav counterpart. The Yugoslav delegation was headed by the Head of Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Dragisa Pesic, who was on an official visit to Kyiv. The four documents signed in the course of the talks include the consular convention, the agreement on cooperation in preventing emergencies and conducting relief operations, and on cooperation in health care and medical science.
Due to the domestic instability in Yugoslavia in 1999-2000, economic cooperation between Kyiv and Belgrade was minimized, and there was a chain of unsuccessful missions by Ukrainian diplomats to help solve the Kosovo crisis. Only the election last October of Vojislav Kostunica as Yugoslavia’s new president opened a new page in bilateral relations. President Kuchma’s first foreign visit this year was to Yugoslavia. A return visit by Kostunica, scheduled for April, has not yet materialized. Meanwhile, foreign trade with Yugoslavia, worth about US $100 million annually, has shown signs of shrinking.
The issue of how to resume shipping on the Danube will dominate the talks, Yugoslav Ambassador to Ukraine Rade Filipovic declared on the eve of Pesic’s visit, addressing the press club at Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Danube, jammed with the debris of bridges in the wake of NATO bombing, has not yet been cleared. Another long-range objective of our relations, the ambassador confirmed, is to sign a free trade treaty. This, however, should be preceded by steps to impose the coding of goods pursuant to European standards.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Yugoslav Prime Minister have condemned terrorism regardless of its origin and stressed the need to destroy the financial base of terrorist organizations, Interfax-Ukrayina reports. The Yugoslav leader briefed Pres. Kuchma on the situation in the Balkans. One of the main concerns, according to Pesic, is the plight of the Serb minority in Kosovo, with about 1000 non-indigenous nationals killed and 1300 missing alone after the international KFOR contingent was stationed in the area. Ukraine will do everything needed to stabilize the situation and restore peace in Yugoslavia, First Deputy Speaker of Verkhovna Rada Viktor Medvedchuk assured.
Viktor Medvedchuk, who met with the Yugoslav premier on October 2, declared that the parliament hails the democratic changes and supports the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. He said that recent developments in Yugoslavia have been actively discussed in the Ukrainian legislature. He said he was on an official delegation that visited Yugoslavia and saw the consequences of the tragic events at first hand.
The issue that dominated the talks between transport ministers of Ukraine and Yugoslavia, Valery Pustovoitenko and Bozidar Milovic, was the resumption of shipping along the Danube. A appropriate document is expected to be signed within a month. Milovic stated that Yugoslavia cannot guarantee the safety of shipping along its stretch of the Danube, pending complete clearing of the river’s waterway. He reiterated that the Danube Commission has so far funded salvage operations along the five kilometer area, stressing that full-fledged shipping will become possible only after the whole waterway has been cleared. The Yugoslav span is 400 kilometers, of which 200 are blocked with the debris of bridges destroyed by NATO planes during the military conflict in 1999. Operations to clear the waterway are to be funded by the EU, which has confirmed plans to allocate $24 million for the purpose. The clearing of the Danube is to be completed next year.