BELGRADE, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Serbia will guarantee future for Serb population in its province of Kosovo and Metohija by boosting business and building infrastructure as well as protecting their security, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic promised in a speech at a square in the city of Mitrovica on Sunday.
The speech in front of several tens of thousands of Serbs in Mitrovica gathering from across Kosovo, marked the end of Vucic’s two-day visit to Serbia’s southern province.
Kosovo is a southern province of Serbia, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia rejects it and considers Kosovo its own province.
During the visit that was broadcasted live by the national broadcaster RTS, Vucic met local Serb officials, families and businessmen looking to define ways to improve economic outlooks for Serbian communities in the province.
“My idea for tomorrow and for the future of Serbia and Serbs is to preserve our people, our land as well as the peace and to try to establish bridges of thrust with Albanians and to strive towards comprise even when we know it is impossible,” he said.
He refuted the possibility of Serbian government recognizing the independence of Kosovo, and stressed the importance of continuing the EU-mediated Brussels dialogue aimed to implement the 2013 Brussels agreement and eventually seal normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina with a legally binding document.
Reminding that this year Serbia is the fastest growing economy in the Balkans, he promised that it will soon start allocating money and invest “not tens, but hundreds of millions of euros” to build hospitals, schools and the water supply system, as well as help locals to establish private businesses in ten municipalities where Serbs are majority in the province.
Vucic said that although Serbia strives for peace, it will not allow for the rights of Serb people in the province to be undermined.
