New adviser to help UN in Kosovo with returnees, reintegration of ethnic minorities

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today welcomed the arrival of a new official to advise it on ways to foster economic development related to the return of displaced persons and the integration of minorities.

Nenad Radosavljevic, the newly appointed Senior Adviser in the Office of Returns and Communities, who took up his job on Monday at UNMIK Headquarters in Pristina, will play an important role in helping to shape policies aimed at facilitating returns and integrating ethnic minorities into mainstream society, the Mission said.

UNMIK chief Michael Steiner said he had been seeking a professional from a non-majority community with economic expertise to undertake this difficult task. Mr. Radosavljevic was the former chief executive officer of an ironworks company in Lesak and general manager of a tool factory in Zvecan.

"With my Senior Adviser now in the office, and with the Inter-Ministerial Coordinator on Returns having been named, we can begin to make serious progress on the issue of returns - truly sustainable returns - as well as on ways to better integrate non-majority communities into Kosovan society," Mr. Steiner said. "I am delighted to have Mr. Radosavljevic at my side to improve our prospects for creating a multiethnic and integrated Kosovo."

Mr. Radosavljevic also had been the former President of the Leposavic Municipal Assembly as well as a former member of the Kosovo Assembly, where he was elected as a member of the Povratak Coalition in November 2001.