SKOPJE - A very small number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned to the southern Serbian province in the past 15 years, Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Marko Djuric warned during the two-day regional conference in Skopje.

During the conflicts in Kosovo, around 230,000 people were displaced, while 23,000 more Serbs, Roma and other non-Albanians were internally displaced in the province itself. Several thousand IDPs returned to the province until now.

The return of displaced persons to Kosovo as a main theme was discussed at the first regional conference in Skopje, organized by the International Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). A large number of senior officials from Belgrade, Pristina, Podgorica and Skopje attended the conference.

Press release of the Ministry for Return announced that the OSCE representatives, who organized the meeting, have said that the aim of the conference is finding lasting solutions for the sensitive issues of return.

The new head of EULEX, Gabriele Meucci started the first visit to Belgrade yesterday, since the entry into the office, with a meeting with the Head Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric.

The press release of EULEX stated that Meucci and Djuric talked about the new mandate of the EU mission, with special emphasis on the north of Kosovo. This press release reported that the new head of the mission said that "EULEX is committed to strengthening the rule of law in northern Kosovo."

ZUBIN POTOK - Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said Wednesday that the government had provided funds for the construction of six blocks of flats and several dozen houses in the southern Serbian province to facilitate returns of displaced Serbs and other non-Albanians.

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric says the statement of the President of the Albanian government Edi Rama on Kosovo’s independence will not change the road of Serbia to stability in the region

In the RTS morning program, Marko Djuric said that Serbia will not stray from the road of reforms that it started.

Djuric said that the Rama's statement is "his identity card," and that is falls within the category of statements that are intended to provoke.

A year has passed since the local elections in Kosovo; the authorities in municipalities with Serbian majority are not satisfied with the treatment of central Kosovo institutions. The government in Pristina reduces the budget from year to year, so often beside salaries for employees there is no funding for the development of Serbian communities.

During the last census in Kosovo, Serbs have been partially registered. By decreasing the number of inhabitants in the Serbian municipalities, the government in Pristina has reduced their budget.

DECANI - Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija Marko Djuric and Visoki Decani Monastery abbot Sava Janjic Monday expressed gratitude to the KFOR commander, Italian Major General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo for sending soldiers to increase the security around the monastery after its facilities and gates had been sprayed with threatening graffiti celebrating the Islamic State and calling for the creation of a Worldwide Caliphate.

“One part of the Brussels agreement envisages that, in Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, Serbs must be employed in Courts and Prosecutors’ Offices in proportion with the ethnic composition of the population. That part of the agreement must be implemented as soon as possible,” said Marko Djuric, Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Government Office for Kosovo Director Marko Đurić and Finnish Ambassador Pekka Orpana agreed Wednesday the Belgrade-Priština dialogue "needs to continue"

 It should "facilitate the normalization of relations and help improve the quality of life of the citizens in Kosovo and Metohija," the office said in a statement.