Head of the so-called " International Steering Group for Kosovo" Pieter Feith admitted in Vienna on Friday that after more than one year of self-declared independence, Kosovo still faces many big problems.
He told a press conference at the Austrian Foreign Ministry that the economic development of Kosovo is facing huge challenges. The privatization process of many economic sectors in Kosovo may be severely interrupted this year due to the global economic crisis.
At the same time, the reconciliation process of Kosovo Serbs and Albanians is still far from smooth, on which Feith said with a pity that more time is needed for that, Xinhua reported.
However, the "International Steering Group for Kosovo" believes that Kosovo has achieved certain progress in the establishment of judicial systems and protection of ethnic minorities in this more than one year's time, and Kosovo's development in this period of time did not depart from EU principles, according to Feith.
Under the support of the United States and the European Union, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17, 2008, which so far has not been recognized by the overwhelming majority of countries in the world.
Countries such as Russia and Serbia believe that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence has violated Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council, which states that Kosovo is part of the legal successor of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. So far, the United Nations has not come to any new resolution as to Kosovo's legal status.
The United States and some EU countries that have recognized Kosovo's independence have established the "International Steering Group for Kosovo," and claimed that this Group aims at supervising and assisting the Kosovo authority in the implementation of plans for maintaining local stability and developing economy.
This Group involves the 25 countries that recognize Kosovo's independence, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey and the United States.