KOSOVO LEADERS PLEDGE COOPERATION WITH UN CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR

PRISTINA, Feb 16 (Hina) - Leading Kosovo politicians promised they would cooperate with the new Civil Administrator for Kosovo, Michael Steiner, at a meeting in Pristina on Saturday. Steiner held separate meetings at the UN Kosovo Mission (UNMIK) headquarters with Kosovo parliament speaker Nexhat Daci and political leaders Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaqi and Rada Trajkovic. Discussed at the meeting was the overall situation in the province and the possibility of deblocking the process of establishment of new Kosovo institutions. The Kosovo politicians said the talks were useful and expressed belief progress in political processes would already be felt in the next several days. The president of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance, Ibrahim Rugova, said the talks focused on the need to establish institutions of authority as soon as possible, so that efforts could be directed to economic recovery. Kosovo Democratic Party president Hashim Thaqi expressed optimism after the talks, advocating the establishment of a wide political coalition. The head of the Serbian coalition "Povratak", Rada Trajkovic, did not give any statements. (hina) rml