Serbia’s refusal to sign agreement with Kosovo will not halt progress, says US official

Serbia’s refusal to sign agreement with Kosovo will not halt progress, says US official
Gabriel Escobar, deputy assistant secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, speaks during a hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation on February 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. (AFP/File)
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Updated 20 March 2023

Serbia’s refusal to sign agreement with Kosovo will not halt progress, says US official

Serbia’s refusal to sign agreement with Kosovo will not halt progress, says US official
  • Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has verbally agreed to normalize relations with the breakaway former province but will not sign any legally binding international documents
  • US State department official Gabriel Escobar said the ‘important and historic’ deal is binding nonetheless and leaders on both sides had shown political courage and vision
  • Both countries seek EU membership and the bloc set normalized bilateral relations as a condition for this; Escobar said they will now be judged by their actions under the agreement

CHICAGO: The refusal by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to sign a formal agreement for establishing diplomatic ties with its breakaway former province, Kosovo, will not prevent the normalization of relations process from moving forward, a US official said on Monday.

Gabriel Escobar, the deputy assistant secretary for the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said that Serbia had verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan to establish ties. But he acknowledged it represents just the first step in efforts by the formerly warring nations to resolve their differences.

Vucic has made it clear that he wants Serbia to join the EU, but the latter has made it a condition of membership that the former normalize its relations with Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority but a large community of Serbs.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 but Serbia refuses to recognize this and continues to consider it a province. During a meeting with EU officials on Saturday, Vucic verbally agreed to the normalization proposal but declined to sign any legally binding international documents.

“The United States is very happy to welcome this important and historic agreement,” said Escobar. “It sets the conditions for normalization between Serbia and Kosovo, on European terms, and in that regard it took a lot of political courage and a lot of vision from both Serbian President Vucic and Kosovan Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti to reach this agreement.

“This agreement is a legally binding obligation on both parties and both parties will be judged by their performance under the agreement. And that agreement will continue to be the basis of our policy for the United States going forward, and the basis for European engagement in the region.”

Escobar reiterated that despite the lack of formal signing, the agreement reached by the negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia is nonetheless “legally binding in every respect” and both sides have made commitments as they seek EU membership.

“So the signature was not the issue,” he added. “It was the obligation that both countries freely entered into and, again, the understanding, the clear understanding from both sides, of what was expected and what each side would receive. So, it is an agreement in every respect.

“The next steps, really, are for both sides to start on the implementation as it was outlined on Saturday. Both sides have legally binding obligations that they have to meet.”

On the Serbian side, Escobar said, this means the beginning of a process of recognizing “Kosovo’s documents and other national symbols … and things of that nature.”

He added: “For Kosovo, it’s important for them to begin the drafting of their version of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. There are many other obligations but I think those are the most important ones.”

The significance of the negotiations and the agreement between the two nations marks “the start of the reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo,” Escobar said. “So there will be a lot of work to continue to be done beyond this agreement. Additionally, the EU-facilitated dialogue will also continue.

“So there’s a lot here but what’s important is that we have set clear markers on how the two countries are going to relate to each other going forward.”

As the two nations move forward they “will receive the benefits flowing” from European nations and from the US, he added.

In turn, the responsibilities that both Serbia and Kosovo have accepted are clear, he said.

“I think … for Kosovo the most important thing, and the thing that will get them the most benefit, is greater Euro-Atlantic integration. So that’s our focus: Integration into European structures,” said Escobar.

“For Serbia, their insistence on the implementation of the legally binding obligation to … begin talks and implementation of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities remains key.”

While acknowledging that it has only been two days since the agreement was announced, he added that everyone is hopeful it will succeed and lay the foundations for further progress for both nations.

After generations of conflict dating back to when the Balkans were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999, which placed Kosovo under transitional UN administration and authorized the deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping force called the Kosovo Force. It provided for Kosovo to be granted autonomy, initially under the former Yugoslavia and then under successor nation Serbia.


Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030
Updated 24 sec ago

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030
  • Over 18 percent of waste produced by Indonesia is plastic
  • Bali was first Indonesian province to ban single-use plastic in 2019

JAKARTA: Indonesia, one of the world’s worst plastic polluters, is going to phase out single-use plastic products by the end of 2029, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya announced this week, as the country aims to achieve its zero-waste goals by 2040.  

Asia has been identified as the biggest contributor to ocean plastic, and Indonesia — an archipelago nation of 270 million people — is a major source country.  

Indonesia produced 68.5 million tons of waste in 2022, government data shows, more than 18 percent of which was plastic.  

Less than 10 percent of waste is recycled in Indonesia, and more than half ends up in landfills. 

“Plastic pollution is a real threat that will impact all communities across the world,” Nurbaya said in remarks issued on the occasion of World Environment Day.  

“By the end of 2029, we will phase out several types of single-use plastics.”  

This includes plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam items commonly used for food packaging.  

“This is a way to deal with packaging wastes that are difficult to collect, have no (economic) value, (and are) hard to recycle,” the minister said, adding that manufacturers are also mandated to reduce their use of plastic packaging by 30 percent by the end of 2029 to “push the growth of sustainable businesses and the circular economy in Indonesia.”  

The shift to a circular economy has been advocated by the UN Environment Program, which last month said countries and companies could slash plastic pollution by 80 percent in less than two decades by implementing deep policy and market changes. 

“We are heading toward sustainable waste management (and the) practices of a circular economy,” Nurbaya said. “The potential of the circular economy not only brings economic benefits for the public but is also in line with achieving the zero-waste target by 2040, and zero emissions by 2050, or sooner.”  

Indonesia has seen efforts to reduce single-use plastics, including Bali province’s 2019 ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam, and a similar one enforced in the capital, Jakarta, in 2020.  

But bans alone may not be enough when the world’s fourth most populous country is lacking a proper waste management system. 

“Government commitments and policies must prioritize reduction efforts,” Muharram Atha Rasyadi, urban campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told Arab News. 

“Sorting-based waste management is also key … so that some materials with the potential to become waste can be managed and not all of them turn into a residue that ends up in landfills.” 


Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican

Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican
Updated 27 sec ago

Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican

Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican
ROME: Pope Francis briefly went to Rome’s main hospital on Tuesday for tests and returned to the Vatican, two months after he was hospitalized with an acute case of bronchitis.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the pontiff underwent “some clinical examinations and returned to the Vatican before noon” from the Gemelli hospital.
Witnesses at the Vatican’s Perugino gate, one of the main entrances to the city state, told The Associated Press that Francis greeted guards as he usually does before returning to his residence.
Francis, 86, spent three days at the Gemelli hospital in late March. Initially, the Vatican said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping that he was “still alive.”
The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He also suffers from sciatica nerve pain and has been using a wheelchair and walker for more than a year because of strained ligaments in his knee.
Francis has had a packed schedule of late, with multiple audiences each day. The Vatican has recently confirmed a travel-filled August, when the Holy See and Italy are usually on vacation, with a four-day visit to Portugal the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia starting Aug. 31.
In a sign that the trips were very much on, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2-6. The itinerary confirms a typically busy schedule that includes all the protocol meetings of an official state visit plus multiple events with young people and a day trip to the Marian shrine at Fatima.
Francis’ next public appointment, if confirmed, would be his weekly general audience on Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square.

Crisis-hit UK business lobby faces survival vote

Crisis-hit UK business lobby faces survival vote
Updated 11 min 48 sec ago

Crisis-hit UK business lobby faces survival vote

Crisis-hit UK business lobby faces survival vote
  • Police have launched an investigation following the allegations reported this year by The Guardian newspaper
  • The scandal comes as UK businesses look for leadership during a cost-of-living crisis, with the country's elevated inflation cooling more slowly than expected

LONDON: Britain’s scandal-hit business lobby group, the CBI, faces a vote crucial to its survival Tuesday, with members urged to back reform under new leadership after allegations of sexual harassment by staff.
The Confederation of British Industry risks folding after claims that more than a dozen women were sexually harassed at the organization and two others had been raped.
Police have launched an investigation following the allegations reported this year by The Guardian newspaper, triggering a shake-up at the organization and an extraordinary vote on its future.
The allegations, described as “absolutely devastating” by new CBI director general Rain Newton-Smith, caused an exodus of member companies — and the launch Monday of a rival body by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
Newton-Smith, who has described the situation as a “really deep and painful crisis” for the CBI, told an extraordinary general meeting Tuesday that she was “confident and determined this will be a turning point for us, the start of a new chapter, for a renewed CBI.”
She added: “We’re ready to deliver a better CBI. We just need one thing now — your vote.”
The resolution being voted on Tuesday calls on remaining member companies to put their confidence in CBI proposals to reform its “governance, culture, and purpose.”
The organization has proposed the creation of a People & Culture Committee plus an external expert-led Culture Advisory Committee.
And it has created the role of chief people officer.
At the same time it is cutting jobs as the reduction in members slashes revenue.
The scandal comes as UK businesses look for leadership during a cost-of-living crisis, with the country’s elevated inflation cooling more slowly than expected.
In a move seen as taking advantage of the crisis, the BCC has launched the rival Business Council.
“We have been talking to the nation’s largest corporates and it has become clear to us that they are looking for a different kind of representation,” said BCC director general Shevaun Haviland.
Founding partners include British energy group BP and Heathrow airport.
But Newton-Smith said Tuesday that a revamped CBI could still be a powerful driving force, with its depth of expertise and practical business insights over decades.
“Even our competitor groups have admitted they can’t match all that.”
About one dozen firms, including engineering giant Siemens, Microsoft and oil firm Esso, have signed a joint letter published in The Times newspaper backing the CBI reforms.
The signatories said that while the “CBI has recognized its failings,” they “will hold it to account on putting its plan into action.”
The letter added that “as the UK faces strong economic headwinds and anaemic growth and with a general election expected before the end of next year, it is vital that there is a credible voice representing all sectors and sizes of UK business.
“The CBI can do this.”
It comes after major companies including Unilever, UK bank NatWest and BMW Group canceled their membership.
Others have suspended their involvement — and cannot vote on Tuesday — while the UK government has distanced itself from the CBI.
Newton-Smith took over from Tony Danker, who recently departed over a separate misconduct allegation.


EU’s Borrell says Russia takes aggression to new level with dam blast

EU’s Borrell says Russia takes aggression to new level with dam blast
Updated 25 min 38 sec ago

EU’s Borrell says Russia takes aggression to new level with dam blast

EU’s Borrell says Russia takes aggression to new level with dam blast
  • "The European Union condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms,” Borrell said
  • Ukraine and its Western allies accused Russia of blowing up the dam in a deliberate war crime

BRUSSELS: Russia has taken its aggression against Ukraine to a new level with the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in the south of Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
“Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian civilian critical infrastructure reached an unprecedented level today with the destruction of the dam at Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant,” Borrell said in a statement.
“The European Union condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms. It represents a new dimension of Russian atrocities and may constitute a violation of international law, notably international humanitarian law.”
Ukraine and its Western allies accused Russia of blowing up the dam in a deliberate war crime.
The Kremlin said it was Ukraine that had sabotaged the dam, to distract attention from a counteroffensive Moscow claims is faltering. Some Russian-installed officials said the dam had burst on its own.
The blast has put the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in danger and is affecting access to cooling water for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (ZNPP), Borrell said.
“With this desperate act, Russia is also continuing its reckless nuclear gamble by putting at risk the proper functioning of the safety and security systems of the ZNPP,” the European Commission’s vice president said.
The EU was in touch with Ukrainian authorities to see how it could help, Borrell added.


US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea

US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea
Updated 06 June 2023

US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea

US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea
  • The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China

ABOARD BRP CABRA, Philippines: US, Japanese and Philippine coast guard ships staged law enforcement drills in waters near the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday as Washington presses efforts to reinforce alliances in Asia amid an increasingly tense rivalry with China.
The drills, witnessed by journalists onboard a Philippine coast guard patrol boat, the BRP Cabra, included a scenario involving the interdiction and boarding of a vessel suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction off the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said.
The US Coast Guard is deploying one of its most advanced cutters, the 127-meter Stratton, in the June 1-7 exercises hosted by the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. The Stratton has been conducting exercises in the region to share expertise in search and rescue and law enforcement, the US Coast Guard said.
“This first trilateral engagement between the coast guards of these nations will provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen global maritime governance though professional exchanges and combined operations,” the Stratton’s commanding officer, Capt. Brian Krautler, said at the start of the exercises. “Together we’ll demonstrate professional, rules-based standards of maritime operations with our steadfast partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Japan deployed a large coast guard ship, the Akitsushima, while four Philippine coast guard vessels joined the exercises.
The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in the South China Sea and in any future confrontation over Taiwan, the self-governing island which Beijing regards as a Chinese province.
Washington lays no claims to the strategic South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysian, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in tense territorial stand-offs for decades. But the US says freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes in the busy waterway are in its national interest.
Philippine officials say such joint exercises with US forces do not target any country. But China has warned that increased US security deployments in Asia target Beijing’s interests and undermine regional stability.
The US Pacific Command said over the weekend that a US guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate were intercepted by a Chinese warship in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese vessel overtook the American ship and veered across its bow at a distance of about 140 meters in an “unsafe manner,” it said.
Last month, the US Indo-Pacific Command said a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft flew directly in front of a US Air Force RC-135 plane in an “an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while the American reconnaissance plane “was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law.”
In April, Japan adopted a new five-year ocean policy that calls for stronger maritime security, including bolstering its coast guard’s capability and cooperation with the military. It cited a list of threats, including repeated intrusions by Chinese coast guard ships into Japanese territorial waters.
The Philippine coast guard, meanwhile, has intensified patrols in the South China Sea and taken extra efforts to document and publicize assertive Chinese behavior in the waterway following a Feb. 6 incident in which a Chinese coast guard ship aimed a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some crew members on a Philippine patrol boat off a disputed reef.