Dacic to travel to Pristina in late March

Dacic to travel to Pristina in late March

Speaking about the visit to the OSCE mission in Pristina, the Serbian foreign minister said that the visit "will not have a status character," Tanjug said.

Beta is reporting that the minister confirmed he would attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Western Balkans in Pristina at the end of March.

"My visit will not be connected with the issues of status and will not mean any change in Serbia's stance regarding that issue," Dacic said, adding that the meeting would be held without "the status insignia."

The media announced earlier that the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and economy from the region, within the Berlin process, would be held in Pristina in the last week of March, the agency reported.

Addressing a joint news conference with Head of the OSCE Mission in Belgrade Peter Burkhard, Dacic, according to Tanjug, added that his meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and Special Representative for the Western Balkans Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann produced an agreement on a joint visit to Pristina and the local institutions.

Dacic said that as OSCE chair, he will insist on regional cooperation and deescalation of conflicts with regard to the crisis in Ukraine.

As the OSCE chair, Serbia will focus on the promotion of regional cooperation instead of conflicts, and the search for common points of intersection, without insisting constantly on the points of divergence, Dacic said.

Burkhard said that his talks with Dacic on Thursday covered the implementation of the OSCE Mission mandate, and expressed satisfaction over the fact that many of the priorities Serbia has announced for its mandate as the OSCE chair in 2015 are the topics of the everyday work done by the mission in Belgrade.

"The partnership with our host country is the key factor in the implementation of our mandate," Burkhard said and added that by strengthening democracy, rule of law and human rights sector, the OSCE mission in Serbia and similar missions in the field in south-eastern Europe are contributing to construction of the foundations for cooperation in the region.