[ALBSA-Info] News

[Agron Alibali]

 Kathimerini  
 NEWS & FRONT PAGE 
ATHENS, Wednesday, January 12, 2000 Updated:
01/22/2000 11:21 GMT 

Greece's Kosovo 'liaison office'
Ostensibly part of Belgrade embassy

By Stavros Tzimas
THESSALONIKI - Greece has established a diplomatic
mission in Kosovo, in effect recognizing officially
the new situation in the Yugoslav province since
NATO's war on Yugoslavia. The "Greek Liaison Office"
opened up in the capital, Pristina, on Saturday, along
the lines of the representation in the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia.

Diplomatic sources say that Greece could not attempt
to play a leading role in southeastern Europe and
ignore Kosovo at the same time, while almost all other
EU countries had diplomatic missions there to further
their interests. Furthermore, significant Greek
initiatives are under way in Kosovo in the military,
humanitarian, cultural and economic spheres. Tomorrow
a group of 60 Greek businessmen will be touring to
investigate possibilities for investment.

The "Liaison Office" will be headed by diplomat
Grigoris Vasilokonstantakis and will appear as a
branch of Greece's Belgrade embassy. In reality,
though, it will answer directly to the Foreign
Ministry. This was done to avoid any possible protests
from Belgrade that its sovereign rights in Kosovo were
being violated. Yugoslavia yesterday complained to
Greece over Athens's agreement to provide Kosovo with
electricity. 

The contacts between Athens and Pristina were not
easy, given that the Albanians saw the Greeks as
siding with Serbia during the war. 
 
 

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