Mayors of municipalities of Pristina region yesterday signed a declaration on promotion of the interethnic dialogue. By signing the declaration mayors of Pristina, Gračanica/Graçanicë, Kosovo Polje/Fushë Kosovë, Štimlje/Shtime, Lipljan/Lipjan and Obilić/Obilliq have pledged for promoting interethnic cooperation and dialogue in those local self-governments.

In the coming period the mayors will form a working group composed by members of municipalities which will be tasked with developing ideas and activities that would connect young people from all communities.

The Mayor of Gračanica/Graçanice, Vladeta Kostić, said that this municipality is stabile in interethnic context, and that most of incidents that occurred on its territory were not ethnically motivated. He added that cooperation between the mayors is very important for implementation of the interethnic dialogue.

The Mayor of Pristina, Shpend Ahmerti, agreed that interethnic dialogue is very important, however he added that ‘tolerance itself is not sufficient’ for improving relations between communities.

The project on promotion of interethnic dialogue is implemented with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Head of this mission Jean-Claude Schlumberger said that OSCE will continue to support initiatives aimed at promoting the interethnic dialogue.