David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Saturday 19 July, 2008

Kosovo: No News is Good News (kind of....)

Six months ago the threat of instability in the Western Balkans was near the top of the FCO list of political risks. The news of the last six months has been how little news there has been; and in this case no news is good news. And while there is no news, there is real work going on. For example last week there was the first successful Donor Conference for an independent Kosovo, where the government of Kosovo presented its Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and international pledges of 1.2 billion Euros were made to support the programme. The vast majority of donors are EU Member States but Israel, Turkey, Japan and Saudi Arabia also pledged. It is good stuff.

Posted at 01:26 19 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[4]

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Dear David. If this blog is an attempt to reassure the public that you are on the ball after being stuffed over Zimbabwe by the Russians and Chinese - it fails.

Posted by Kevin Lohse on July 19, 2008 at 07:48 AM BST #

i'm aware david miliband has no other option but to provide a positive comment on saudi arabia's participation in the rebuilding of Kosovo but i hope there's genuine alarm at the foreign office about this revelation? let's all hope there's steps being taken behind the scenes to limit and contain this harmful influence?

Posted by sarahsmith on July 20, 2008 at 12:42 PM BST #

I think the situation regards Kosovo is a perfect example of how the European Union can be a force for good. With the prospect of both Kosovo and Serbia integrating into the EU at some point in the future, both countries will be persauded to consider a way for a lasting peace. Serbia may not recognise Kosovo at the moment but one day they will and this will benefit both Serbia and Kosovo and the wider EU. The massive investment that countries can receieve from the EU is surely a good enough reason to put old feuds aside. Serbia will one day recognise this.

Posted by Justin on July 20, 2008 at 11:01 PM BST #

David Miliband :- we appreciate all your hard work. we trust you and always support you! PL keep up:-

Posted by Frank on July 21, 2008 at 04:39 AM BST #

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