Press Stakeout in Serbia

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, first of all, thank you very much for taking time to visit with me. We are on our way from a meeting with the President to the airport, so I apologize - we have a limited amount of time.

I arrived here in Belgrade last night and had the good fortune today to visit with the President, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Defense Minister. We also had the chance to visit with Mr. Covic.

I came here today after a day yesterday in Pristina. And I reported to all of the people who I met today that I went to Pristina for a very specific purpose. I went there to add my voice to the voice of so many others to condemn the violence that had been perpetrated in Pristina earlier this month. I want to say that violence is unacceptable; to say that violence must never happen again. And to say that those who perpetrated that violence must be found and arrested and brought to justice.

I reported to people in this government today that I also had visited with members of the Serb minority yesterday to hear their story, and that we had visited also some of the destruction in Pristina. This added to my sense that this must not never happen again.

When we visited with the Serb citizens, I was with Admiral Johnson and our job was to say that their security was our primary concerns. I also described two other important things about my visit to Pristina yesterday: first, I found a continuing commitment to a multi-ethnic Kosovo, and second, I found a continuing commitment to the Review Date strategy. Which means that people are still interested in the standards set by the United Nations, and are still interested in implementing those standards, so that people can review that process in 2005.

I also took the opportunity today to talk about the future of the relationship between Serbia-Montenegro and the United States. And we agreed that there are many things that can be done, and I was glad that the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were interested in ways to move forward and also recognize the importance in that regard of Serbia-Montenegro meeting its international commitments including to the ICTY.

QUESTION: Did you talk about cooperation with ICTY? What did you talk about in Kosovo?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Yes, Sir. On the ICTY, as I say, I was extremely interested that they raised this issue with me. I took from that that the leadership here recognizes its responsibilities; and I got the strong sense that they wish to meet those responsibilities. How they do that is obviously up to them. But I said that this was an area in which cooperation with the United States is certainly possible. In terms of Kosovo, I think people here were interested in what we had to say about security in Kosovo; about our commitment to freedom of movement; on our commitment to the fact that there ought to be effective local government in Kosovo; and we talked about everyone's interest in the success of standards. I don't pretend that we agreed on every single detail, but I was happy to hear here as well, a continuing commitment to multi-ethnicity, peace, prosperity, and democracy in Kosovo.

QUESTION: What is at stake if the U.S. does not certifiy 3/31?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, what is at stake is a continuation of our assistance programs; that's a decision that Secretary Powell will take tomorrow. I would just say that if he decides that certification is not possible tomorrow, that does not close the possibility that certification might be possible sometime in the future. And I will take one more. No, right here.

QUESTION: Will the Secetary delay certification like he did before?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN:: I don't think so. OK, thank you all very much.