Subject: Swedish PM planning Kosovo, Belgrade visits in November: press
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 7:00:17 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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STOCKHOLM, Oct 24 (AFP) - Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson
is planning visits to Kosovo and Belgrade at the end of November in
connection with a European Union (EU) meeting on the Balkans, press
reports said Tuesday.
The Swedish daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet said Persson, whose
country takes over the EU presidency in January, was hoping to meet
with Kosovo Albanian leaders in Kosovo and Yugoslavia's new
president, Vojislav Kostunica, in Belgrade, in conjuction with the
November 24 EU meeting in Zagreb.
A visit with Swedish troops from the KFOR multinational
peacekeeping force was also in the works, the paper said.
However, a Persson advisor told AFP that while efforts were
being made to schedule such a trip, there were no concrete plans
yet.
"We have not been able to plan any concrete occasion yet,"
advisor Roger Haellhag said.
Haellhag confirmed Persson would be attending the November 24
Zagreb meeting, where leaders of the 15 EU member states will
discuss developments in the Balkan region with the leaders of
Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and
Yugoslavia.
US President Bill Clinton is also expected to attend those
talks.
Persson will also visit Slovenia on November 23, where he will
hold talks with government representatives, Haellhag said.