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Ad Melkert, Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), urged continued support for returning refugees and internally displaced persons in Kosovo, and stressed the importance of creating employment and livelihood opportunities for them on the last day of a 4 day visit to Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

"It is important to provide a future for the young people in Kosovo so that they are not only encouraged to stay, but also are reintegrated into a society that has a place for everyone,” Melkert said after a visit with two families who have returned.  “It is encouraging to see that there is an overwhelming wish on the part of the returnees to be able to continue their normal lives and that tolerance can reign again for the future development of Kosovo.”

The two families - one Kosovo-Albanian and the other from the Bosniac community –returned to the village of Mitrovica from Montenegro and now live side by side with Kosovo-Serbs. 

In 1999, after the conflict in Kosovo ended, all of the Serbian inhabitants in the village of Vidanje in central west Kosovo fled to Serbia and their houses were completely destroyed. In 2004 the first group of Kosovo-Serbs returned to the village through the Government Assistance to Returns project, implemented by UNDP.  This project has resulted in the full reconstruction of more than 50 houses, a community centre, the electrical and sewage systems, and a road.

On Monday he met with Kosovo leaders, including the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, the President of the Kosovo Assembly, Kole Berisha, and the Prime Minister, Agim Ceku. Melkert was accompanied by the UNDP Kosovo Resident Representative, Frode Mauring, and other local UN staff involved in the projects he visited.

In FYROM, the Associate Administrator stressed the need to create employment opportunities, especially for the 38% of unemployed youth in the country.  He also noted that, while the country has made strides towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, its poverty rate is currently 21 percent and it is not on track to achieve the first Goal of halving poverty by 2015. He called for more inclusive strategies to ensure the entire population benefits from the current increasing levels of economic growth, not just certain segments of the population.

Melkert met with the FYROM Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, Vice Prime Minister, Zoran Stavrevski, and the Foreign Minister, Antonio Milososki, as well as with members of Parliament from a variety of political parties. FYROM is keen to begin negotiations on accession to the European Union and has been putting in place economic and social reforms to attract investors and sustain domestic economic growth.