Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ambassador Everts, it is always a privilege to welcome you back to Vienna.  We commend you for your strong leadership over the past year on Pillar III issues.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in all its mandated areas, has been a source of stability.  Your Mission deserves great credit for your oversight of the successful municipal elections in October, which was a watershed step in Kosovo's political development.

Looking ahead, you have outlined an approach for OMIK in 2001 that emphasizes a shift from the creation of democratic institutions toward a focus on a sustainable transfer of control of those institutions to the local Kosovar population.  We agree with this approach and also with your stated intent to redouble efforts to address minority issues.  

Kosovo's future rests in peaceful, multiethnic cooperation, and the OSCE has a special obligation to help Kosovo achieve that goal.  A critical early step will be to ensure that all Kosovars feel represented by the municipal assemblies.  We support the appointment of moderate municipal assembly leadership in the northern, predominantly Serb municipalities, but we must also continue to encourage Kosovar Serb participation in the 27 elected municipalities.  The international community must also remain resolved to press the parties to keep to their pre-election pledges regarding inclusiveness and power-sharing within the assemblies.  And we will be watching closely to ensure that selection of municipal civil servants is fair and constructive, and reflects inclusiveness and competence over party loyalty.

Another crucial step to building confidence between ethnicities will be the passing of the Amnesty Bill in Yugoslavia and the corresponding release of Albanian political prisoners, including OSCE employee Bekim Kastrati. The International Community is doing all it can to urge the Belgrade authorities to address this, and we await a positive resolution as soon as possible.

Ambassador Everts, we welcome your pledge to continue to work closely with other pillars within UNMIK.  The arrival of the new SRSG should offer a timely opportunity to stake out new ground for such cooperation.

You have just suggested that Kosovo-wide elections in 2001 will remain a key event for the whole of OMIK.  We agree. These elections are the natural step in what UN Security Council Resolution 1244 describes as the development of provisional institutions for democratic and autonomous self-government, including elections.  We understand the need for clear political guidance from the UN on the scope and timing of 2001 elections.  On timing, we believe they should be held as soon as possible.

Once these decisions are made, we will need to move diligently.  OMIK should have an election plan -- including budget & timelines -- ready to go, and after your visit here, I am optimistic that such planning is well on course.  We will fully support OMIK efforts to make sure these elections are free, fair, and fully representative.

It must also remain a priority to maintain the current focus on such critical human rights issues as tracing the missing and detained and protecting the victims of trafficking.  The United States will offer its fullest support to OMIK in those areas.

The Kosovo Police Service School (KPSS), as you suggested, remains a crown jewel. The school will continue to enjoy our full support as it takes an increasing burden of gradually replacing UNCIVPOL.  We must not shy away from giving the school the full support it will need to fulfill that task.  

We also support the unique role played by the JIAS Department of Democratic Governance and Civil Society, and welcome its new involvement in overseeing the registration of political parties and NGOs in Kosovo.

Your Mission's efforts on media development have gone from accomplishment to accomplishment.  This is an area where we will see perhaps most immediately the fruits of local ownership, with the establishment of the Interim Media Commission, with RTK gaining its independence, and with the terrestrial transmission system due to cover virtually all of Kosovo by spring.  One of the most important remaining tasks for your media experts, to our mind, is continuing to support minority access to media.

Ambassador Everts, thank you for your report and for your continued leadership of this important international endeavor.  The job ahead still remains immense, but your priorities are correct, and you have our full confidence that under your leadership the Mission in Kosovo will continue to meet fully the obligations of its mandate.

Thank you.