PanARMENIAN.Net

Contact Group on Kosovo discussed further plans
29.09.2007 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The six-nation group charged with leading talks to
resolve the sovereignty dispute over Kosovo met Thursday at the United
Nations, trying to develop fresh ideas to move the negotiations
forward.

High-ranking government officials from the United States, Russia,
Germany, Britain, Italy and France met with UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon in a closed-door session in a conference room in the basement
of UN headquarters in New York.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband chaired the meeting, attended
by foreign ministers from other countries and Javier Solana, the
European Union external affairs chief. No one made any comment to the
media.

The contact group is also known as the troika, composed of the leading
European Union members (Germany, Britain, Italy and France), Russia
and the United States.

The group is to make a final report to Ban on the negotiations by
December 10.

`An agreement between Belgrade and Pristina with a following approval
by the UN Security Council would be the optimal way of Kosovo problem
resolution,’ said a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On Friday, representatives from Serbia and Kosovo are scheduled to
meet face-to-face for the first time at UN headquarters in a session
sponsored by the European Union.

Serbia is opposed to independence for Kosovo, instead offering
autonomy but keeping that province within its national territory, the
UN news center reports.