Wolfgang Ischinger, envoy of European Union (EU) for the Kosovo
issues, said on Thursday in Vienna that the Serb and Kosovo
Albanian delegations would hold direct talks on the future status
of Kosovo.
The troika, made up of three envoys respectively from the EU,
the United States (US) and Russia, held the talks on the future
status of Kosovo separately with the Serb and Kosovo Albanian
delegations on Thursday in Vienna.
Ischinger told the media after the meeting that the atmosphere
in the meeting was "constructive and friendly."
He said that the talks would hold on before the troika submit
the relevant report to Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary-general of the
United Nations, on Dec. 10, adding that the Serb and Kosovo
Albanian had promised the troika that they would not damage the
talks until Dec. 10.
He also excluded the possibility of dividing Kosovo into two,
stressing that complying with the principle, established by the
international contact group, constituted of the US, Russia,
Britain, France, Germany and Italy, the troika did not list such
possibility in the agenda, and neither the Serb nor Kosovo Albanian
delegations mentioned such possibility.
The spokesman of the Kosovo Albanian delegations expressed the
satisfaction with the talks, adding that the Kosovo Albanian
delegations aimed to bring forward advice for promoting the good
relations of neighborhood with Serbia to the Troika, and as an
independent country to cooperate with Serbia in all mutual
interested fields.
Vuk Jeremic, foreign minister of Serbia, said after the talks
that Serbia would commit itself to a transigent plan, which must
comply with the international law and be in favor of the regional
peace and stability.
The former UN's special envoy to Kosovo, Ahtisaari referred a
comprehensive proposal on the future status of Kosovo granting
internationally monitored independence to the province in March,
which was the basis for the drafts of resolution by the United
States and other Western countries, but was repeatedly criticized
by Serbia and Russia as being partial toward the Kosovo side.
Due to the opposition of Russia, the United States and other
Western countries decided not to refer their draft for the future
status of Kosovo to the Security Council on July 20, and chose to
impel for negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo with time
limitations.
The international contact group decided to build troika to impel
new round talks, and submit report on the talks to the
secretary-general of the UN on Dec. 10.
The envoys of the troika said in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, on
Aug. 1 that the new round talks on the future status of Kosovo
started after they had visited Belgrade and Pristina.
(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2007)
