§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the political situation in Kosovo. [50588]
§ Mr. MacShaneMuch progress has been made since the elections to a Kosovo Assembly took place on 17 November 2001. On 4 March 2002, Kosovo's first freely-elected and multi-ethnic provisional self-government was formed and Dr. Irahim Rugova was elected President of Kosovo. The majority of governmental functions are being transferred from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to the government, with the exception of powers reserved under the terms of the 2001 Constitutional Framework, such as external affairs, security and law and order. These will remain in the hands of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative. Most of the Ministers are now in place, and are establishing their departments and defining their priorities.
All of Kosovo's minorities are represented in the Assembly, and one Ministerial post has already been filled by parties representing the non-Serbian minorities. A further Ministerial post has so far been left unfilled, pending a nomination by the Serbian minority. Following positive recent statements from their representatives and the Belgrade government, I hope that this will soon be filled.
Old target Revised target Reason Increase in the global audience of the BBC World Service to 153 million by 2002 and then maintained throughout the period. Increase in the global audience of the BBC World Service to 157 million by 2004. Original target was subject to final confirmation; subsequent discussions between BBC World Service and FCO resulted in a higher target being set. Target refers to weekly radio audience and is calculated annually from independent surveys. The upward revision of this target was published on the FCO website last year.
No new PSA targets have been set for the FCO since the publication of the 2001 departmental report.