Balkan summit ends with condemnation of violence in southern Serbia

In a final communique, presidents Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkay, Ion Iliescu of Romania and Petar Stoyanov of Bulgaria called for an immediate end to violence in the region. They said certain risks to security and stability continued to exist in the region.

They expressed special concern about tensions in the divided town of Mitrovica in the mainly ethnic Albanian-populated Serbian province of Kosovo. The communique also appealed for a continuing stationing of UNMIK and KFOR peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.

The leaders lauded Yugoslavia for embarking on the road to democracy.

They also discussed ways to coordinate efforts to clamp down on cross-border organised crime.

The illegal transit of migrants, drugs and arms in the region alarmed the European Union and posed a problem that must be solved before visa restrictions for travellers to the E.U. are lifted, Romanian President Ion Iliescu said.

Both Romanian and Bulgaria want a lifting of all restrictions for its citizens wishing to go to the E.U.

Also high on the agenda were joint projects to expand regional rail and motorway networks as well as the construction of a new second bridge across the Danube on the Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the river.

(kil/dpa)