Southeastern Europe

BELGRADE - World Bank (WB) Country Manager for Serbia Tony Verheijen said Monday that Serbia was well prepared for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Verheijen told reporters at the Belgrade City Assembly that the IMF mission was arriving in Belgrade on Tuesday for talks with representatives of the Serbian government and the National Bank of Serbia.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will talk on the phone Wednesday about ways to solve the problems related to Serbia's debts for gas and exports to Russia of Fiat cars manufactured in Kragujevac, central Serbia, Tanjug has learnt at the prime minister's office.

BELGRADE - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Miodrag Linta has said that he agrees with Croatian President Ivo Josipovic's opinion that relations between the governments in Belgrade and Zagreb are stagnating and argues that the responsibility for this should be sought on the Croatian side.

BELGRADE - The European Union (EU) should support infrastructure development in the Western Balkans to ensure economic recovery in this part of the European continent, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has said.

BELGRADE - A meeting between Serbia's Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic and representatives of the lawyers' community at the Bar Association of Serbia ended without an agreement.

The Socialist Alternative Party (PAS) candidate for Presidency, Constantin Rotaru said on Sunday in Ramnicu Valcea (south-western Romania), when outgoing from the polling station that he had voted for a Romania for all Romanians.

The Prodemo Party's candidate for presidential elections, Mirel Mircea Amaritei said that he has voted for a prosperous Romania.

"I have voted for a Romania of prosperity, progress and pro-democracy. Romania, you are Pro today," Amaritei said on Sunday after voting at the "George Enescu" National College of Music.

Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are nowhere near a solution to the name dispute, the Balkan statelet’s foreign minister, Nikola Poposki, said on Saturday.

Bulgaria expects to receive BGN 700M in funding under the EU's Operational Programme Environment by the end of the year, caretaker Environment Minister Svetlana Zhekova has said.

The sum comprises delayed and suspended payments as well as new payments processed over the past two months, Zhekova told Darik radio station on Saturday.

Russia has cut gas deliveries to Serbia by 28% over the past week, Serbia's Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic has said.

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