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Press office PRESS RELEASE |
UNMIK |
UNMIK/PR/1385
Monday, 4 th July 2005
UNMIK, UNDP and the PISG Ministry of Communities and Returns sign Memorandum of Understanding in support to returns in Kosovo
PRISTINA – Kilian Kleinschmidt, Acting Director of the Office of Returns and Communities (ORC) of UNMIK, Christine Roth, UNDP Resident Representative in Kosovo, and Minister of Communities and Returns (MCR) Slaviša Petković today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), defining the modalities of cooperation in the implementation of the Government supported Return Programme in Kosovo.
“Today’s signing of this memorandum represents a very important step forward in terms of cooperation between UNMIK, UNDP and the PISG Ministry of Communities and Returns (MCR) on the issue of returns. It came at a critical time when some 20 multi-sectoral returns projects approved by various Municipal Working Groups (MWGs) Kosovo wide are ready to be implemented and many IDPs are waiting to return through these projects”, Kilian Kleinschmidt said.
This MoU provides the framework for the implementation of the “Sustainable Partnerships for Assistance to Returns to Kosovo (SPARK)” project amounting to €8,800,000 from the Kosovo Consolidated Budget .
This new programme merges the former “Government Assistance to Returns (GAR)” project and the “Rapid Response Returns Facility (RRRF)” programmes and will allow the implementation of returns projects dealing with a range of specific activities to support organized, facilitated and spontaneous returns to Kosovo.