Kosovo, Serbia sign series of agreements in key areas

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kosovo and Serbia have signed a series of agreements in key areas, in a major step towards normalizing ties, BBC News reports.

Serbs in northern Kosovo will enjoy greater rights through one of the deals, while Kosovo gains its own international dialing code in another.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who mediated, called the agreements "landmark achievements".

Kosovo split from Serbia in 2008, a decade on since a conflict between Serb forces and Kosovan Albanian rebels. A NATO bombing campaign against Belgrade effectively forced Serbia to cede the state.

Kosovo has a majority Albanian population, but under the agreement Serbs will be able to manage issues such as the local economy and education.

As well as deals on energy and telecommunications, Kosovo and Serbia also agreed on how to share the symbolic Mitrovica Bridge that separates Albanian and Serb communities in the north.

Both sides aspire to join EU, which for Serbia depends on implementing a 2013 EU-brokered agreement on normalizing ties with its southern neighbor.

"This is a big achievement for the whole of Serbia and it means there are no longer any obstacles, nothing stands on Serbia's way towards Europe," said the Serb President Aleksandar Vucic.