In the joint letter they welcomed the first part, for the first time in several years, of the meeting of the Joint Commission on 21 May this year, where the delegations of the participating states agreed to come together in Belgrade for the second part of the meeting today. In a joint letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, four Successor States ton the former SFRY expressed their surprise with and regret because of the cancellation of the arranged meeting. They reminded Serbia that in the first part of the meeting of the Joint Commission they all agreed on handing one property to each Successor State, and in the second part of the meeting scheduled for 17 June 2010, the timeframe should have been determined for handing the remaining allocated properties.

Furthermore, in the meeting on 21 May 2010, heads of delegations of Croatia, Slovenia, B-H and Macedonia presented their views clearly that Serbia had had sufficient time – since the signature of the Zagreb Resolution in December 2006 – to arrange the acceptance of the properties i.e. to free them of its diplomatic and consular staff. They expect that Serbia will meet its obligation to hand over 44 properties referred to in the Zagreb Resolution by the end of June 2011.

In the letter they express their wish to allocate the diplomatic and consular missions of the former SFRY in other geographic regions, expecting Serbia to submit the copies of the relevant documents for the missions in question. They also expressed their hope that the results of the work of experts in regard of the list of the art works located within the diplomatic and consular missions of the former SFRY would be integral part of the resolution issued after the closure of the second part of the 14th meeting that was scheduled for today.

In conclusion the signatories of the joint letter called on Serbia, as one of the Successor States top the SFRY, to honour its obligations, and expressed their expectation that the second part of the meeting take place as soon as possible.

Press releases