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Belgrade: Serbian President Boris Tadic will lead a state delegation to Brussels on Wednesday. Statement from the president’s office said that the delegation will include Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Deputy Prime Minister for Integration in Europe Bozidar Delic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

Vienna: It was vital for the future of the European Union to agree on a strong position on Russia’s actions in Georgia, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said Monday in Vienna, ahead of an EU emergency summit in Brussels this afternoon.

Paris: French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said that sanctions against Russia are not on the agenda for Monday’s EU emergency summit in Brussels. Fillon instead called for dialogue with Moscow.

Berlin: The Federation of German Industries (BDI) said Monday it was opposed to sanctions being imposed on Russia over the conflict in Georgia and called for dialogue rather than confrontation.

Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called for an international weapons embargo on Georgia until President Mikheil Saakashvili is ousted from office, the Interfax news agency reported.

Paris: As the European Union prepared to hold an emergency summit on the Caucasus crisis Monday, Georgia’s ambassador to France called for Russia to be given a “last chance” before any possible sanctions.

Jakup Krasniqi, Kosovo Albanian Assembly Speaker yesterday stated that he expected the EU mission “to spread to the whole territory of Kosovo by October”.

Belgrade: Serbian Statistical Office figures show that Serbia’s trade in the first six months of 2008 totaled about USD 21bn.