AGREEMENT ON KOSOVO'S PRESIDENT REACHED

PRISTINA, Feb 28 (Hina) - Ibrahim Rugova will be president of Kosovo, and Bajram Rexepi from the democratic Party of Kosovo will be Prime Minister, leaders of four leading Albanian political parties in Kosovo agreed early Thursday morning. The agreement on the distribution of duties was signed after a five- hour meeting attended by Rugova, the president of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, president of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hashim Taqi and head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, in the presence of the UN civilian administrator, Michael Steiner. The Kosovo parliament should on Monday confirm the agreement reached early this morning. Steiner expressed satisfaction with the fact that the three leading Albanian political officials showed readiness to reach the agreement. Rugova described its signing as an important step in the consolidation of political institutions. Taqi said the agreement was the result of compromise in the interest of Kosovo, and Haradinaj said that it clearly defined a distribution of responsibility and announces that details of the agreement would be given out during the day. According to information known so far, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo will have three ministries, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo will get two ministries each. One minister without portfolio will be from the ranks of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, and one ministry each to the Serb coalition "Povratak" and other non-Serb minorities. According to the agreement, one Alliance representative will be in the Kosovo parliament's presidency. (hina) lml