§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made in starting the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations on the future status of Kosovo. [HL2047]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)On 14 October 2003, the then Serbian Prime Minister Zivkovic and Kosovo Prime Minister Rexhepi attended the launch of the direct dialogue talks between Belgrade and Pristina on technical issues. The talks are designed to cover areas such as environmental issues, missing persons and returns of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The first meeting of the Energy Working Group took place in Pristina 161WA on 4 March and the Missing Persons Working Group met on 9 March in Pristina. Subsequent meetings on IDPs are due to be held in Belgrade in April.