Contact Group on Kosovo discussed further plans

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.