NATO's Partnership

BRUSSELS - Serbia's Ambassador to NATO Branimir Filipovic says Serbia-NATO cooperation has been "continuously very good", with a high level of communication at various levels, and that it is very important for preserving peace and security in Kosovo-Metohija, NATO being the only legal military force in the territory under UNSCR 1244.

The head of the Serbian delegation to the NATO assembly, Dragan Sormaz, has denied reports that adoption of a new Individual Partnership Action Plan, IPAP, with the Atlantic alliance has been delayed due to a lack of political will - and said the new plan involves cooperation at a higher level.

Vucic and Hodges, who is now with the Center for European Policy Analysis NGO, discussed the security situation in South Eastern Europe and the region, as well as problems in the dialogue with Pristina, the president's press office said in a statement.

On 29 March 2004, Bulgaria became a full member of NATO. Bulgaria's accession to the Alliance is undergoing a continuous integration process that began in the 1990s. In 1990, Bulgaria accepted the invitation to establish diplomatic ties with NATO.

An official state ceremony led by President Aleksandar Vucic was held in the southern Serbian city of Nis on Sunday evening, while at the same time nationalists protested in Belgrade on the anniversary of the start of the NATO military campaign on March 24.

Vucic told about 2,000 Serbians who attended the ceremony in Nis that the NATO bombing was a crime.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - NATO is planning to build its first air base in the Western Balkans near the municipality of Kucove in central Albania, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday.

Faktor Plus agency Director Vladimir Pejic says research has shown that Serbians believe the country's EU path is "too slow and uncertain."

Pejic also told NBC that, when asked "where in the world they would prefer to live," a majority of those polled responded "mainly in the EU and the US," Beta is reporting, citing the website KomentarPress.

Pejic also told NBC that, when asked "where in the world they would prefer to live," a majority of those polled responded mainly in the EU and the US," Beta is reporting, citing the website KomentarPress.

NBC quoted Pejic in a report dedicated to a recent joint Serbian-US military exercise held in Serbia.

"Kosovo is an independent state and has the right to form its own army," Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

Moreover, Thaci accused Belgrade of being a factor of instability in the region.

Jelena Milic, the director of the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Serbia, told BIRN that the threats peaked around the anniversary of the NATO air strikes after she urged the Serbian authorities to stop playing politics with the victims of the 1999 bombing campaign.