UN Kosovo envoy says technical talks before status negotiations

Jun 10, 2006, 18:27 GMT

Belgrade - Talks on practical issues will precede negotiations on the status of Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, the United Nations' envoy for mediating talks on Serbia's breakaway province, said Saturday in Pristina.

'The aim is for us to create, through decentralization and other meetings, better living conditions for all - the majority at first, but also for minorities,' the Beta news agency quoted Ahtisaari as saying.

Ahtisaari met with representatives of the Kosovo negotiating team, including Kosovo President Fatmir Seidiu, and was due to have talks with representatives of Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo later in the day.

Late in May, Serbia's authorities proposed that direct talks on the status of Kosovo province should be launched.

Talks between Serbian and Kosovo delegations started in February, centring mainly on the decentralization of authority in the UN-administered province.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up around 90 per cent of Kosovans, insist independence is the only viable solution and want to see it happen before the year is out.

Serbia, on the other hand, considers Kosovo to be the heartland of Serb culture and refuses to grant anything more than far-reaching autonomy.