SERBIA DAILY No68

W Daily e-newspaper

• N° 68 • Belgrade, August 2, 2016

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WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP

Serbia Delivers Protest Notes to Croatia

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After Stepinac case, and Croatian right-wing protests in Srb, Serbia now issued two more protest notes about abolition of Branimir Glavas, and unveiling of monument to terrorist Miro Baresic

he Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday delivered two more protest notes to the Croatian embassy in Belgrade. The Croatian charge d'affaires, Stjepan Glas, however, refused to accept them.

But the Serbian MFA announced in a statement that the protest notes were "submitted in a regular way" which "formally confirmed the delivery."

The Serbian government said on its website that one of the notes "expressed a sharp protest against the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia revoking the first instance conviction for committing a war crime against civilians, in particular against Serbian civilians in Osijek, against Branimir Glavas and others, returning the case to the first instance court for retrial."

The ministry "considers the decision of the Supreme Court inexplicable both in legal and moral terms and that it is aimed directly against the Serbian people."

The consequences of the judgment further complicate and aggravate the sit-

Ivica Dacic, Foreign Minister: For Germans, Hitler is a symbol of evil, and only in Croatia, the fascist NDH creation and her priest Stepinac are proclaimed heroes and saints. Serbia will continue policy of good-neighborly relations

uation for the Serbian people in Croatia, it stated.

The Serbian MFA "expects from the Croatian judicial authorities to reopen the procedure for Branimir Glavas and proceed on the basis of Croatian law."

The ministry also expressed "a sharp protest following the unveiling of the monument to Miro Baresic in Drage."

The MFA "believes that the erection of a monument to a convicted terrorist who perfidiously murdered the Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden Vladimir

Zarko Korac, professor: Tragically killed Serbian PM was a representative of some other Serbia. People who prevented opening of memorial room either do not know who Zoran Djindjic was or belong to another world

Rolovic is an inappropriate and uncivilized act for which there is no precedent in modern Europe," the Serbian government's website said.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects the Croatian government to unequivocally distance itself from the glorification of the convicted terrorist and murderer of the ambassador Rolovic and thus show that it does not support terrorism," the statement said, adding that the Republic of Serbia "expects this shameful monument to be removed."

Daniel Ruch, Ambassador of Switzerland: Stability in the region is indeed very important. I do not believe that anybody who has a historical conscience would neglect the fact that stability in the Balkans is essential

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Continuation of Cooperation with Russia It was noted that cooperation is mutually successful and it is expected to continue in all areas of importance and common interest

Daily

Markers

BY EMIR SALIHOVIC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Devil's Dance in Croatia

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irst Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic and Minister of Defence Zoran Djordjevic spoke with Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin on the promotion of cooperation between the two countries.

It was noted that cooperation is mutually successful and it is expected to continue in all areas of importance and common interest.

They discussed the current situation, humanitarian operations carried out by the Russian Federation, as well as other aspects of regional and global political and security situation.

Chepurin said that he expects the improvement of cooperation in all fields, in accordance with the Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the two countries, and added that the involvement of the Russian Federation on the establishment of humanitarian corridors is exclusively of humanitarian nature.

Dacic and Djordjevic during the meeting emphasized the principled position of

Serbia on respect for the territorial integrity of all states of the United Nations and supported all international activities that are aimed at building and maintaining peace and security in the world.

This is particularly evident when it comes to humanitarian operations and preventing the suffering of innocent civilians in the regions affected by conflicts.

The Republic of Serbia best demonstrated its humane treatment of civilians, particularly bearing in mind its own experience in recent past, during the current migrant crisis, and received recognition from the entire international community.

The Serbian government will, even in a complex economic situation, assess the possibilities for the collection of humanitarian aid, as a contribution to the success of humanitarian operations performed by the Russian Federation.

Serbia will continue to implement the policy of military neutrality will continue to cooperate with all partners in the East and the West, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence.

Bosnian MFA Condemns Flag Burning The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina condemned in the strongest terms the burning of two national flags of Serbia as an inappropriate act of vandalism and an attempt to desecrate the state symbols of a sovereign and friendly country.

In response to a protest note from the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the BiH

ministry said the country's authorities had been requested to verify if there was any evidence suggesting that a controversial footage of the flag burning incident had been made in BiH territory.

It said it had also been requested that all activities required to find and punish by law the perpetrators of this crime be undertaken.

Dialogue with Pristina Continues Director of the Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, yesterday and today heads the delegation of Belgrade in the framework of continuation of the dialogue with Pristina at the expert level in Brussels.

The talks are held at the headquarters of

the European External Action Service, and the topics are the implementation of the Agreement on the Establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities and other agreements reached on 25 August last year, according to a statement of the Office for Kosovo.

s if there is no intention to stop provocations between Serbia and Croatia, ministers from Croatian government decided to unveil a monument to a man who was convicted in 1971 for a terrorist act committed in Sweden - murder of Yugoslav ambassador Vladimir Rolovic.

That was a time of resurgence of Croatian right-wingers, when those Croat nationalists, ustasha sympathizers and officers who fled Yugoslavia after 1945 defeat of the Axis organized to stage a number of attacks on Yugoslavia, including also hijacking airplanes, or planting bombs in Belgrade cinemas.

There was also an attempt to infiltrate Yugoslavia illegally and an armed group of ustasha sympathizers who planned to commit terrorist attacks in Yugoslav cities were comprehended while attempting to enter the country from Hungary.

At the time, Yugoslav authorities managed to deal efficiently with those attempts to destabilize Yugoslavia, but only for 20 years. With the beginning of 1990s and Tudjman's HDZ party those same right wingers saw, and used, their chance to return to the scene.

Unveiling monument to a terrorist who murdered an innocent diplomat could happen only in society with very blurred distinctions between right and wrong, and celebrating murderers cannot be anything else but simply scary.

However, the fact that the minister who had prime role in this was Croatian culture minister Zlatko Hasanbegovic, self-declared sympathizer of ustasha and Croatian WWII role, is sort of comforting, because he hardly represent majority of Croatian society. In fact, he was generally despised and publicly criticized in Croatia for his right wing positions.

We hope this may be the beginning of the end of his career, and that Croatian prime minister and president will be wise enough to react on this celebration of terrorism and fascism in an appropriate manner.

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PINION

Specter Of Russia Haunts Vucic

After Vucic's meeting with Vladimir Putin, there was a statement that made it clear that Putin expected to see individuals appointed in Serbian government who would contribute to improving Russian-Serbian relations "It would not be the end of the world if I do not form a government," Serbian Prime RFE/RL Minister Aleksandar Vucic quipped while speaking to reporters last month. It's been three months since he comfortably won the elections, and yet Vucic has yet to name his cabinet. Vucic failed to give a clear explanation for this, but hinted that unnamed forces may be at work behind the scenes.

It seems there is no pressure coming from within his party, or from his coalition partners. And Vucic is as popular as ever, and has plenty of political capital to spend following his election victory. Yet he says he does not want to put together a government he cannot stand by. How could one form a government that is not to one's liking? Perhaps if somebody is handing that individual a list of unacceptable names.

"It goes without saying that there are many who would like to have a major influence on the [composition of the] Serbian government," was the cryptic explanation Vucic gave in his July 25 press conference.

Who, then, is putting pressure on the Serbian prime minister?

It is known that, immediately following the April elections, Vucic was in Moscow. After his meeting with Vladimir Putin, there was a statement on the Russian president's official site that made it clear that Putin wanted -- or expected -- to see individuals appointed who would contribute to "improving Russian-Serbian relations."

That's the root of Vucic's quandary, according to Serbian journalist Bosko Jaksic: "After his May visit to Moscow it was clear to me that pressure was coming from that direction, and has only increased since then, since there is no one here [in

BY GORDANA KNEZEVIC

Serbia] who could wield that kind of influence," Jaksic explained in an interview with RFE/RL in Belgrade.

"There is no one in the Progressive Party of Serbia," Jaksic said of Vucic's party. And if the Socialists -coalition partners in the previous government -- "are putting any pressure [on Vucic], they can only do so with Moscow's help," Jaksic argued, "because on their own they do not have the bargaining power or political clout."

"It therefore seems obvious to me that word is being sent down from Moscow," Jaksic concluded.

On the other hand, political analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic, who is considered close to the Progressive Party, believes that the pressure on Vucic is coming from the West, as Brussels might feel emboldened to interfere in Serbian domestic politics since the opening of chapters 23 and 24 of the EU-accession process.

Jaksic does not rule out Western influence, but would consider it merely a reaction to Moscow's meddling in Serbian affairs.

"The pressure coming from the East is the aggressive sort, which comes with concrete demands, and wants to dictate the shape of the new government," Jaksic said. "We only need to go back to Putin's statement.

There is certainly pressure from the West, too, but more in the form of a warning: 'Vucic, do not let Moscow tailor your cabinet, because you will find yourself on a collision course with us.'"

Jaksic added that Vucic is partly responsible for the situation, "because he's been enthusiastically offering himself to both sides, encouraging the expectations of both [Europe and Russia], even though Euro integrations are nominally the priority."

Vucic, meanwhile, has suggested that the task of forming a government might soon be out of his hands if he fails to resolve his doubts. "There is no pressure, but if I cannot form a government by the first half of August, someone else will."

Who, precisely? More cryptic messages, it seems. But Putin's friendly arm around Vucic seems to be growing heavier by the day.

Publisher: WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP z POENTA d.o.o. Sarajevo, Augusta Brauna 3 z Editor - in - Chief: Emir Salihovic z Editors: VLASTIMIR MIJOVIC, AMRA ZIMIC, RASID KRUPALIJA, DANIJELA MRKIC, SANJA LJUBICIC z Director: Amra Zimic z Office Assistant: VERICA GRAOVAC, MUSTAFA BAHTANOVIC, DTP: Bekir Tvrtkovic z Marketing: KAROLINA MIHAJLOVIC z GSM: 00 381 61 2768568, 00 381 11 4086 992, serbiadaily@sbb.rs

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Croatian Minister Praises Ustasha Terrorist

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The unveiling of a monument honoring Croatian Ustasha terrorists Miro Baresic has been attended by two Croatian ministers, the N1 broadcaster has reported

aresic was jailed in Sweden the 1971 for the murder of Yugoslav Ambassador in Stockholm Vladimir Rolovic. He was killed 25 years ago, during the war in Croatia.

The unveiling of the monument in Baresic's hometown of Drage on Sunday was attended by Croatian Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegovic and Minister of Veterans Tomo Medved.

According to N1 only Ante Gotovina, also in attendance, received more applause than Hasanbegovic.

Those gathered included generals Josip Lukic and Ljubo Cesic Rojs, Ante Deur, and several officials of the Croatian Party of Right Ante Starcevic, as well as members of the Croatian Assembly.

Minister Medved addressed the crowd to say that Baresic was "one of the biggest Croatian patriots" and "a symbol of the struggle for freedom." Consequently, the Croatian official concluded that "his work and his sacrifice must be respected."

"He fought for years, abroad and during the Homeland War, for a free and independent Croatia, and never gave up on his idea, although he for years felt the injustice that was being inflicted sys-

Monument to Miro Baresic

tematically on the Croats. Like many other immigrants who were willing to give their lives for Croatia, he was 'a defender before there were defenders'... He participated in the Homeland War and lived to see the realization of his dream. Thank you, Miro, for an independent, sovereign and free Croatia," said Medved. Describing the 1971 murder in Stockholm, Beta agency said that "when Baresic saw that that the police

were coming he realized that the original plan to take the ambassador hostage had fallen through" and that, as the police stormed the embassy building, "the other assassin Brajkovic took a pistol, put it in Rolovic's mouth and shot him in the head."

"After that they both surrendered without resistance, shouting: 'Independent State of Croatia' and 'Long live Ante Pavelic," said the report.

Stefanovic: Resurgence of Fascism Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has called "disconcerting" the inauguration of a monument to Ustasha terrorist Miro Baresic, Beta agency reported earlier.

Stefanovic said that this act smacked of "a resurgence of fascism in Croatia."

Baresic has been honored with a monument in Drage, near Pakostane, Croatia, the news agency said.

"It is very hard to speak coolly and rationally about something that is really much appears to be a resurgence of fascism in Croatia, of Ustashism,"

Stefanovic told Pink TV. Tanjug reported him as noting that Baresic was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison by a Swedish court.

He added that memorializing a man convicted of an act of terror "should have serious states in the EU concerned," Beta reported.

"They reacted in cases which were much more benign compared to this one, and then there is a silence over something like this. And this is not the first time. It is not Serbia rehabilitating Stepinac, overturning Branimir Glavas's

conviction, or lining up blackshirts unfortunately, all this is happening in Croatia," he said.

Stefanovic also noted that Serbia would hold a central state ceremony on Remembrance Day for Serbs who were persecuted or killed in Croatia's Operation Storm of 1995 in Zemun, in the refugee community of Busije, on August 4.

Remembrance Day is marked ahead of Aug. 5, the anniversary of Croatian military and police forces expelling approximately 250,000 Serbs.

War-Mongering Rhetoric Former Serbian ambassador to Croatia Radivoj Cveticanin says the rhetoric between the two countries "suggests the war never definitively ended."

Instead, it looks as if it has been "on pause," he told Montenegro's Radio Antena M, as reported by Beta agency.

Cveticanin, who now works as journalist for Belgrade-based daily Danas, said that the current crisis in relations between the two states and the two peoples has been "produced by their internal relations."

"Especially - if you'll excuse this asymmetry - with those in Croatia. Recent Croatian governments, that of Milanovic, but even more so those of Oreskovic and Karamarko, have been soft on the rightwing and on nationalism, and a resurgence of a bad history was inevitable," Cveticanin said.

He considers this "a dangerous development" and thinks it is "about time" to stop further deterioration.

Cveticanin also thinks "Belgrade is run-

ning a risk that Croatia might once again slow down its EU membership negotiations," and adds that "compromises and backing down are not the worst thing in politics."

"My experience tells me that certain straining can be expected from Zagreb, as a kind of historical resentment, even if the atmosphere in relations were to improve radically," said Cveticanin.

He also thinks that relations could improve after elections in Croatia.

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Incident at Opening of Djindjic Memorial Room The Croat returnees prevented the lecture, "Facing the Past", which was to be delivered by Korac, a close associate of the Serbian prime minister who was assassinated in 2003

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bout 20 Croat returnees have prevented the opening of a memorial room dedicated to Zoran Djindjic, the assasinated Serbian prime minister, in the House of Peace in Tisina, near Samac, in Bosnia.

This has been reported by the public broadcaster of the Serb entity in BosniaHerzegovina, RTRS. Instead of in the House of Peace, Professor Zarko Korac held his lecture in the Meteori restaurant, Tanjug agency said. Bosnia agency Fena, however, reported that the memorial room had been opened.

The Croat returnees prevented the lecture, "Facing the Past", which was to be delivered by Korac, a close associate of the Serbian prime minister who was assassinated in 2003.

While negotiations regarding the opening of the memorial room were ongoing, "there were threatening messages and criticism at the expense of Croatian priest Marko Orsolic and the guests from Serbia," reported RTRS. Orsolic said that the Croats who had returned to the village of Tisina "did not understand their intentions."

"The behavior of the Croats from Tisina was arrogant and the House of Peace is not that, but a house of disquiet. This is sad, regrettable and shameful. Neither the House of Peace, not the Memorial Room to Zoran Djindjic will be in Tisina but in another location somewhere in Samac," said Orsolic.

Organizers said that residents opposed the lecture, so it was held in the restaurant instead.

Representatives of the International MultiReligious and Intercultural Center, which organized the opening of the memorial

Serbia Appreciative of China's Support Serbian Foreign and Defence Ministers Ivica Dacic and Zoran Djordjevic discussed with Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang ways to further enhance the cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting noted the significance of a Serbian government initiative aimed at strengthening Sino-Serbian relations and the high degree of understanding and mutual support on a number of matters vital to Serbia and China and cooperation in many international forums.

The current global situation and regional developments, with emphasis on security affairs and migration trends, were also discussed.

Li said China considered Serbia a significant partner in the southwestern Balkans and that it hoped for a further strengthening of mutual understanding, friendship and

cooperation.

China appreciates Serbia's principled position on Tibet and Taiwan, while maintaining a clear and consistent position on Kosovo, advocating respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia, an official statement said.

Dacic said Serbia was appreciative of China's support for its aspirations to preserve its territorial integrity and achieve a peaceful resolution of the issue of Kosovo.

At the same time, China is one of the most dependable strategic partners of the Republic of Serbia, he noted.

Djordjevic highlighted the significance of an agreement on cooperation in the defence industry, signed by the Serbian Defence Ministry and the Chinese State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

room, also decided to halt the work of the House of Peace, said RTRS. "The tragically killed Serbian prime minister was a representative of some other Serbia. People who have prevented the opening of the memorial room either do not know who Zoran Djindjic was, or belong to another world. The whole region has to change, people need to learn tolerance and must know they can live with the differences," said Korac.

Zoran Djindjic, who was assassinated on March 12, 2003, was born on August 1, 1952 in Samac, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Eleven Arrested for Smuggling Migrants Serbian police say they have arrested 11 people suspected of smuggling dozens of migrants across the border to EU-member Hungary.

Serbian police said the arrests were the result of "intensive operational work and exchange of information with the Hungarian police."

The statement says two of those arrested were the suspected organizers of the smuggling operation, while the others allegedly transferred the migrants to Hungary and then on to Austria.

People smuggling has been on the rise in the Balkans since nations closed their borders for migrants in March in a bid to stem the flow after more than 1 million asylum-seekers entered Europe in 2015.

Several thousand migrants have been stuck in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans looking for clandestine routes into the European Union.

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Krichbaum: To Investigate Arson of German Embassy

Serbia's EU accession negotiations "can only be concluded once the arson attack on the German embassy in February 2008 is fully investigated", says Gunther Krichbaum "We will not tolerate any false compromises. This is a matter of rule of law", said German Parliament member and Chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the EU, Gunther Krichbaum.

According to him, "the demanded seven points required by his parliamentary faction" set before Serbia "have largely been met - which is why last year the German Bundestag could give the green light for opening the first negotiating chapters."

"However, in a resolution on June 27, 2013 the Bundestag has made it clear that the accession negotiations can only be concluded once the arson attack on the German embassy in February 2008 is fully investigated and the perpetrators are brought to justice," said Krichbaum.

Many Reforms When the interviewer said that "many are under the impression that Germany does not acknowledge the importance of issues such as the decreasing of the rule of law and the reduction of media and political freedoms," the German official responded by saying there was "obviously a misunderstanding here," and added: "It is quite clear that Serbia still needs to implement many reforms in politics, administration, the judiciary and the economy before the country can join the EU. Nevertheless, the efforts and the progress made, largely achieved by Prime Minister Vucic, must be acknowledged. Serbia is well on its way towards the EU, even though the accession negotiations will certainly continue for several more years. Germany supports this path very actively, which can be

seen in the Berlin Process, initiated by the German government."

As for the recent protests in Belgrade and the accusations that the EU and the U.S. were trying to overthrow Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Krichbaum rejected them as "absurd".

"Demonstrations and protests against a freely elected government are part of the freedom of expression and completely natural in a democracy.

However, nobody in Germany has an interest to topple the reelected prime minister of Serbia or to destabilize his government. The image that is drawn here is false and absurd. Our relations are very close and constructive, and are becoming even more friendly and amicable through the negotiations.

Claiming that someone wants to overthrow the freely elected prime minister is nonsense", he said.

Commenting on Croatia's demands regarding the opening of Chapter 23 in Serbia's EU accession negotiations - i.e., that country's blockade that lasted several months - the German official said he found it "unacceptable for an EU country to block the accession negotiations with a candidate country because of bilateral disputes."

"When Slovenia blocked Croatia's accession process because of a dispute over the border demarcation in the Bay of Piran, I had expressed my opinion in favor of Croatia. Bilateral disputes need to be resolved bilaterally. To assist this process, there are not only international dispute settlement bodies, but also the EU and Germany are willing to mediate in certain cases," he said, adding: "These disputes must not be made an issue for the EU. I very much hope that this irritation will quickly be a thing of the

past after the elections in Croatia. After all, the government has already articulated a change in of position here."

Asked whether "comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, required of Serbia by the EU negotiating chapter 35, necessarily entails the Serbian recognition of the independence of Kosovo - or if there were other solutions," Krichbaum replied: "In recent years, there has been great progress in the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo, which was largely enforced by Prime Minister Vucic. Still, both countries are far from having good neighborly relations, as Germany maintains with its neighbors for example.

Therefore, the Chapter 35 negotiations will certainly be among the most difficult and tedious ones. Presumably, this chapter is only going to be closed at the very end of the negotiations."

Russian Influence As for whether "the Russian influence can be a serious threat to EU integration for Serbia," and "where he saw Serbia's position between the EU and NATO on one side, and Russia on the other," the German official said there was "nothing wrong with Serbia maintaining close economic relations with Russia even after joining the EU." "But the EU is not only an economic community, it is above all a political union that shares common values.

Therefore, it was natural for the EU to sharply condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and to impose sanctions on Russia. Whether Serbia would like to become a NATO member state someday, like its neighbors, is entirely up to Serbia," Krichbaum said.

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Online Shopping Increasingly Popular in Serbia

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At the annual Blogomania conference, the credit card company Visa had a survey carried out among the participants, which showed that 71% of participants shopped online once a month

he increasing popularity of online shopping in Serbia has been confirmed by the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) as well, whereas individual research by credit card companies shows that items bought online mostly include clothing, jewelry, cosmetics and travel tickets.

In the first three months of 2016, according to the NBS data, most transaction were made with credit cards through the internet in euros, a total of 396,802 transactions, followed by dollar transactions, 360,972 of them, whereas dinar transactions amounted to 244,330. The data by the central bank, which have been sent to Tanjug, show that, in the first three months this year, the total value of transactions in dinars amounted to nearly RSD 1 billion, in euros around EUR 17 million, and in dollars around USD 7,8 million.

As well, there were transactions in pounds sterling in the first quarter, a total of 28,915 of them, 5,242 transactions in Hungarian forints, 3,988 transactions in Russian rubles, 1,177 in Croatian

kunas and 1,796 in Swiss francs.

The average value of a transaction, according to NBS, depending on the currency, amounted to RSD 4,091, EUR 43, USD 22, CHF 162.

At the annual Blogomania conference, the credit card company Visa had a survey carried out among the participants, which showed that 71% of participants

Applications for Galenika Received Applications from all three bidders interested in a strategic partnership at Serbia's pharmaceuticals company Galenika "arrived in a timely manner."

They were also submitted "pursuant to requirements," a commission in charge of the procedure for establishing the partnership announced after the applications were opened on Friday.

Only envelopes containing bidder information were opened at a session held by the commission and the documentation provided will be evaluated and analyzed within the shortest period of time possible, the Ministry of

Economy said in a statement.

At the next session, scheduled for today, the commission will present a report on the bidder documentation received.

The financial bids will be opened once all documentation has been deemed to have been submitted pursuant to the rules of procedure for establishing a strategic partnership, the statement said.

The bids were submitted by Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited of India, EMS SA of Brazil and a consortium of UKbased Frontier Pharma Limited and Russia's LLC NPA Petrovax Pharm.

GDP on Rise Serbia's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was up by 1.8 percent in second quarter of 2016 compared to the same period of last year, shows a flash estimate by the national statistical office RZS. "The calculation of quarterly GDP for the 2nd quarter 2016, which is more detailed and compiled at lower levels of aggregation by deflation method, will be published in statistical release Quarterly GDP in the Republic of Serbia on August 31,

2016," the RZS said in a statement.

In the first quarter, GDP grew by 3.5 percent in real terms compared to the same quarter of 2015, with the economy growing by 1.6 percent compared to the previous quarter.

At the end of 2015, the Serbian GDP saw a 0.8 percent growth, while the 2016 budget envisions a 1.75 percent economic growth, which is now expected to be higher.

shopped online once a month, with women aged 25 to 35 making up the majority of the surveyed group (60%).

"We expect that the trend of the growth of online transactions with credit cards and other means of payment will continue thanks to the contribution of the new legal solutions regarding payment services", the NBS said for Tanjug.

Building in Resavska St. on Sale Komercijalna Banka has placed a tender for the sale of a 1,944 m2 commercial building in 29 Resavska St. in Belgrade. The starting price of this piece of real estate in EUR 2.3 million.

All interested local and foreign, natural and legal persons which make a deposit or submit a bank guarantee in the amount of RSD 28,750,000, or EUR 230,000, have the right to participate.

Bids are to be submitted in closed envelopes not later than August 26, 2016, at 2 pm, to the address: Komercijalna Banka AD Beograd, 29 Makedonska St., Postal Expedition Service, for the Tender Commission, with the note "Bid for the purchase of building at 29 Resavska, Belgrade do not open".

The review of the additional documentation or the tour of the building can be scheduled each work day until August 25, 2016, from 10 am till 4 pm, by sending an email to: imovina@kombank.com, or by calling: +381 11 333 95 93, or +381 65 956 00 18

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BK Group building Tesla City

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BK Group announced that the construction of the residential and business complex Tesla Grad (City), worth EUR 3 billion, might start soon

he president of the Executive Board of BK Group, Dragomir Karic, said on the occasion of presenting the Tesla Grad project that they were negotiating at the moment with representatives of the City of Belgrade about the location.

"The plan is for Tesla Grad to be built in Belgrade and for the construction to begin as soon as the building permit and other necessary permits are issued", Karic said.

It was said at the presentation that two locations were being considered - one in New Belgrade, across from Belgrade Waterfront, the other one in Makis, behind Ada Ciganlija.

As eKapija wrote earlier, Tesla Grad will take up around two million square meters of surface, and around 43,000 workers should be employed in the construction, with an additional 18,000 employments planned after the completion of the project.

An international financial center is supposed to be built at the center of the complex, which should contribute to the budget of Serbia with at least EUR 20 billion a year. The center will accommodate various activities, from business meetings to entertainment, containing a great hall, an underground railway station, an international conference center, shops and restaurants and a pool which can be transformed into an ice skate ring in winter - a concept similar to the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

"Among other things, the aim of these projects which should be built in the next 15 years is to assist the construction industry, to step up the production and the export of construction materials. This is an opportunity to employ over

Vision of future Tesla Grad

100,000 people and the project won't be any less valuable or profitable than, say, Zelezara or other large companies in Serbia", Dragomir Karic said.

At the conference held at the CCIS, BK Group also presented a project called Minsk World, the construction of which has already started in the capital of Belarus, and they also announced the construction of social housing flats in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac.

"The Minsk World project is worth USD 13.4 billion and its purpose is to contribute to the economic development of Belarus by establishing a commercial center which will enhance the life and activities in the city centre", Karic said.

Marko Cadez, the president of the CCIS, said that the employment of builders on the construction sites in the country and the world opened new prospects for an additional 40 accompanying activities and that the recovery of investment

activities and the construction sector was the first sure sign of the recovery of any economy.

"In the residential and business complex in Minsk, with 3.5 million square meters of surface, and in the Tesla Grad project, which should be realized in Belgrade, according to the plan, there's work for not only our construction resources, but also for planning and consulting companies, companies which deal in internal and external installations and fire protection systems, producers of materials and equipment for construction and installations", Cadez said.

Cadez reminded that the construction industry had been the fastest growing sector in 2015 and that the trend continued in 2016. He also said that the fact that representatives of around 80 companies from Serbia attended the presentation by BK Group was encouraging.

Unions Asking for New Minimum Wage Serbian employers have finally given in, following months of refusal to discuss the raising of the minimum wage, and the negotiations with the representative unions about the modification of the lowest remuneration are to begin next week.

The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia and the United Branch Unions "Nezavisnost" are asking for the minimum wage to be raised from RSD 21,054 to RSD 24,360, whereas the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) still hasn't said anything about the amount, but they agree that it needs to be raised.

For Nebojsa Atanackovic, the president

of SAE, the negotiations have only just started, but he believes that all conditions are met for the minimum hourly wage of RSD 121 to be raised.

"The unions are asking for RSD 140 per hour, which is too much, as it is around 15% higher, and the prices haven't gone up by as much. We can't raise the wage by the amount relative to the improvement in operations either, because the expenses are becoming increasingly higher as well. For example, in many cities, the water for commercial and industrial use is up to three times more expensive than the water for domestic use, whereas in Belgrade it is twice as

expensive", Atanackovic claims.

He explains that the raising of the minimum wage causes the growth of other earnings as well, and with that a growth of a company's total funds.

"The minimal consumer basket nowadays costs around RSD 35,000, and with the raise we are asking for, workers in Serbia will only be able to buy 70% of groceries in it", says Dusko Vukovic, vice president of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia.

The negotiations on the level of the minimum wage, which should be defined, according to the law, by September 15, will begin next week.

S e r b i a D a i l y, A u g u s t 2 , 2 0 1 6

9

Outdo London in Rio De Janeiro

T

The Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will officially open on 5th August, but the management of Serbia's Olympic mission is already on the spot

he head of Serbian Olympic mission is Damir Stajner, executive director of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, who is making his debut in this role at the Summer Olympics. He gave an interview for CorD magazine.

Apart from the sporting aspect of our athletes, what is the essence of the "Rio 2016" project that you have worked on together with all members of the Olympic Committee of Serbia?

The "RIO 2016" project began immediately after returning from the Olympic Games in London and in essence it is about financial, professional and complete logistic support for athletes to achieve top sporting results. All athletes are placed into appropriate categories on the basis of which they receive a certain amount of funding to continue their training process, further their sporting progress and participate in qualifying competitions for participation in the Olympic Games and other major competitions. In short, that is the essence of the "Rio 2016" project, with the additional aspect that we are also trying to secure sponsors for our Olympians.

Logistical support implies the daily engaging of our medical team that takes care about the health of our athletes and resolves the problem of specific sports injuries, which if necessary also involve experts and medical institutions from abroad.

Did you have a problem with the financing of the "RIO 2016" project?

The strength of the "RIO 2016" project is that we don't only have one source of funding, rather we secure money from several sources. That's good, because when we get less funding than anticipated from one line (for whatever reason) we can rely on another and athletes and their preparations will not suffer. I am proud to be able to say that, given the modest possibilities that we have as a country, athletes are provided with solid and stable conditions. Of course, we cannot measure ourselves against the richest countries. Let's say that one boat costs the same for the British, or the Germans, or for us.

What is the share of funds from public companies in sponsorship funds?

We are a sports organisation which functions in the field of financing according to transparent business models. In the sponsor pool we do not have a single public enterprise, although there were sporadic short-term arrangements.

We strive to function commercially in

relation to partners and members of our sponsorship pool are strong international companies operating in Serbia, starting with Delhaize, which is our general sponsor, then Vojvoรฐanska Banka, not to mention further. These are all international companies that very clearly recognize the validity of some business deals. We offer some value and in return we expect this value to be paid.

Is it true that in this Olympic cycle candidates for participation in the Olympic Games in individual sports received greater attention and more resources than ever before?

After the Beijing Games in 2008 and the arrival of Vlade Divac at the head of the Olympic Committee we set up new programs whose base was to use some kind of "protectionism" to enable the better status of individual sports that were then lagging behind in comparison to team sports. Because of that we redesigned the program and in individual sports we went much deeper, down to the minutest detail, in relation to team sports. Team sports have the capacity to carry that which we do more with individual sports. Such a relationship contributed to 95 per cent of athletes who were in our programs succeeding in making the Olympic quota or achieving the Olympic standards needed for Rio. Some 104 athletes from Serbia will compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 14 sports, 11 less than in London four years ago. How would you explain that with regard to all of the aforementioned?

You cannot escape from statistics, but they can show a false picture of reality.

Our "RIO 2016" project was at the level of the London 2012 project, and that means 110 to 115 athletes. On the other hand, the Executive Board of OCS decided at the start of the Olympic cycle to make the criteria for the Olympic Games stricter, in order to increase the competitiveness of our athletes for high placements, which it has the right to do according to the Olympic Charter. Therefore, in Rio a number of athletes will not participate who could, according to the criteria of international sports federations, participate on the basis of B standards. We also gave up on invitations, or "wild cards" that we could count in some sports and that is one of the reasons why we will have 12 fewer athletes in Rio than in London. However, even in such a situation we could have had the same number of athletes if only one of our teams had, as was expected, achieved Olympic qualification [men's volleyball team]. The number of participants is slightly smaller, but we expect more effective results.

As we're already talking about it, can you be specific when it comes to the expectations of the OCS? Our job is to motivate athletes, not to expose them to pressure. We will be satisfied if the number of medals won and the number of placements among the top eight or 10 is greater than in London. Top sport today is a profession and entertainment of the rich, and Serbia, despite everything, has very good standing in that company. In order to go further we must improve the conditions in which our sports clubs live and work in most sports.

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10

Violence Against Migrants on Rise

T

Violent attacks on refugees and migrants have increased in the Balkans since the spring, the medical organisation MSF in Serbia reports

he medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, has warned of an increase in violent attacks on refugees in the Balkans since the spring.

"Since May, we have detected an increase in violence toward refugees returning from Hungary. More than a hundred people have sought our help because of their injuries," Francois Tillette de Mautort, MSF's Humanitarian Affairs Officer in Serbia, said.

He said the injured included women and children, not just men, as was the case before.

"Migrants are being injured with fists, beatings, batons, tear gas, electric shocks and dog bites. They also reported people in uniform in Hungary stealing their property," De Mautort told BIRN. De Mautort confirmed that migrants are still reaching the border with Hungary in spite of tightened restrictions but are encountering more problems on the route.

According to him, migrants and refugees in Macedonia have worst problems in terms of violence with smugglers, and in Bulgaria and Hungary with both police and the army.

There were also reports of sexually violent attacks on refugees and migrants in Macedonia.

"We provide primary psychological support for migrants but those people are on their way, and we cannot work with them for too long since they move on," De Mautort said.

"We do not have feedback on how those people are treated in the countries where they arrive. We rely on their public health systems and on how they react," he said.

De Mautort said the provision of psychological help for migrants was not carried out effectively along the migrants' so-called Balkan route, but mobile teams in Serbia are doing their best.

"We reach people in need, usually on the road, but also wherever where we have access to refugee camps. This

problem is not being tackled enough on the route," he said.

He said MSF would like to operate in Bulgaria but the country was hard to access for humanitarian and NGO workers.

"That is one reason why we operate in Belgrade, since no matter whether migrants come from Bulgaria or Macedonia, they have to pass through Belgrade on their way to the EU," he said.

He concluded that tightened border controls is unlikely to stem the flow.

"Closure of the borders will not discourage people from migration. It will just put them in a more vulnerable position and make them more exposed to smugglers," he warned.

Kosovo 'Mass Grave' Fails to Yield Bodies After two weeks of excavations, forensics experts have determined that no human remains are to be found at a suspected mass grave located close to a Serbian Orthodox church and the campus of the University of Pristina.

"After two days of excavations at the third and final location on the University of Pristina campus, no human remains were found," the Kosovo Special Prosecution said.

Excavations have now ended at all three locations near the university and church that were searched by forensic experts in the presence of both Serbian and Kosovo authorities.

Veljko Odalovic, head of the Serbian commission for missing persons, told Serbia's Tanjug news agency that all suspicions about a potential mass grave there had been resolved.

"This was burdening both the Serbian and Kosovo public and the families of the victims," Odalovic said.

The search for buried bodies on the

campus started on July 13 on the order of the Kosovo Special Prosecution.

It began after someone living close to the site told the Kosovo authorities that Serbian forces had buried victims under the lawn between the church, which stands on the university campus, and the National Library.

The Serbian Orthodox Church had given its consent for the excavations.

Construction of the church started in the mid-1990s, when Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was in power and attempting to consolidate Serbian control over the mainly ethnic Albanian then province of Kosovo. It has remained unfinished since the war for independence in Kosovo ended in 1999.

The erection of the church remains a controversial issue. In September 2012, the University of Pristina sued the Serbian Orthodox Church, accusing it of illegally seizing more than four hectares of land to build the church.

No final court verdict has been issued on the case.

So far, mass graves containing the bodies of more than 1,000 Kosovo Albanians killed during the war of the late 1990s have been found in four locations in Serbia.

They were found at a police training centre in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica, in Lake Perucac, at a police centre in Petrovo Selo and at the Rudnica quarry near the southern town of Raska. But the bodies of around 1,666 people are still missing.

The last search for a Kosovo war grave near the southern Serbian town of Novi Pazar in April - conducted by both Serbia and Kosovo's missing person commissions as well as by the Serbian war crimes prosecution and the EU's rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX also failed to yield any results.

According to Odalovic, new excavations will resume in the autumn both in Kosovo and Serbia.

S e r b i a D a i l y, A u g u s t 2 , 2 0 1 6

11

Iran's Balkan Activities Under Spotlight

I

Iran's promotion of its brand of Shi'ite Islam across the Middle East has been obvious for decades, but such activities in Europe largely managed to fly under the radar

ran's Balkans-centered efforts have come under scrutiny in recent years, leading to an Iranian cleric in Kosovo being charged with financing terrorism and money laundering through a nominally nongovernmental organization he operates. Kosovar authorities claim Hasan Azari Bejandi, charged on July 26, ran five Shi'ite organizations with links to Tehran.

Bejandi is the most high-profile Iranian cleric to be accused in the predominantly Muslim country, potentially cutting off a rare avenue of influence for Tehran in Europe, where charities believed to be tied to Iran also operate in Albania, Macedonia, and BosniaHerzegovina.

The charges against Bejandi come amid a recent crackdown by authorities on foreign-funded Islamic organizations, which the government blames for the radicalization of Kosovar youths and the high numbers of people who have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Heavily Involved But Tehran is heavily involved in the fight against Islamic State (IS), and it is unclear what Bejandi's alleged involvement in terrorism might be, particularly considering that terrorism in Kosovo is usually linked to IS. Iranian charities launched their activities in Kosovo soon after the war ended in 1999. The organizations built schools and mosques, but also brought with them a conservative brand of Shi'ite Islam. The groups also spread antiWestern and anti-Semitic propaganda, and are seen to be tied to Tehran's long-standing effort to export its Islamic Revolution.

"Iran's activities in Kosovo were more or less underground," says Visar Duriqi, an investigative journalist for Kosovo's Gazeta Express news website. "Their activities didn't cause too much attention. But that changed when authorities found out that the NGOs were hiding their sources of income and the purposes of their spending."

Bejandi was the head of the Qur'an Foundation of Kosova, an alleged umbrella group for five Shi'ite organizations operating in Kosovo that have been shut down in recent months. State prosecutors say Bejandi has been charged with laundering hundreds of

By Frud Bezhan RFE/RL

thousands of dollars in undeclared cash between 2005 and 2015.

Naim Rashiti, an analyst with the Balkan Policy Research Group, a Pristina-based think tank, says Iran is a relatively minor player in the competition for Islamic influence in the Balkans, where Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states dominate.

"The first NGOs established here were related to Wahhabism and Saudi

Qom. The university claims that Bejandi is its representative in Kosovo.

Mehdi Khalaji, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who studied Shi'ite theology in Qom, has written that Al-Mustafa International University is owned and run by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Al-Mustafa International University says on its website that it is the only Iranian center active in Kosovo since 2000. It is alleged by Kosovar authorities to be active under five institutions in two major

Pristina, old town

Arabia," Rashiti says. "The Iranians came a little later and were fewer in number.

Their pull was not as strong as [that of] the Arabs."

Many Kosovars support the government's close ties with the United States, owing to NATO's bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia that ended the Kosovo war and also Washington's support for Kosovo's independence.

Rashiti adds that Iranian NGOs in Kosovo have been under greater surveillance and monitoring by the authorities compared to other foreign organizations. "The Iranian NGOs were an additional issue because of the political connotations," he says.

Journalist Duriqi, who has spent a year investigating Iranian charities in Kosovo, says the Qur'an Foundation of Kosova is linked to Ikballe Huduti-Berisha, one of the leaders of the small Shi'ite community in southwestern Kosovo. Her daughter, Zehra Huduti, caused a stir when she announced on Iran's web-based Nasr TV during a visit to Tehran three years ago that she wanted to "fight Israel and America."

The umbrella group appears to be affiliated with the Al-Mustafa International University headed by Ayatollah Alireza Aarafi, a member of Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and a Friday Prayers leaders in the holy city of

cities -- the Qur'an Foundation of Kosova that was set up in Prizren in 2002; the Ibn Sina Institute for Human Sciences launched in 2012 in Pristina; the all-female NISA charity based in the capital; the Pristina-based Bregu I Diellit group; and the Ahle Beyt Institute set up in 2007 in Prizren.

Biggest Contributor Since late 2014, Kosovar authorities have closed dozens of foreign-funded charities -- mostly Saudi-backed -- in a bid to address Kosovo's radicalization problem.

The government estimates that more than 300 Kosovars have traveled to the Middle East to join Islamic militants fighting in Iraq and Syria. That makes this predominately Muslim country of under 2 million people, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, Europe's biggest contributor per capita of foot soldiers for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

Kosovo's authorities say around 50 homegrown jihadists have been killed in fighting in Syria and Iraq, and around 120 have returned to Kosovo. More than 100 people in Kosovo have been arrested or are under investigation for recruiting or fighting abroad on behalf of IS.

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