"Dačić and Thaci negotiated for 220 hours"

"Dačić and Thaci negotiated for 220 hours"

The Serbian prime minister and his Kosovo counterpart were taking part in a panel "on relations between Serbia and Kosovo, moderated by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton," Beta reported.

Both prime ministers on Sunday evening assessed that "besides bilateral relations, the relationship with Europe is also crucial," said the official site of the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

Ashton noted that Dačić and Thaci has already spent "220 hours talking on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština."

Dačić urged Kosovo Serbs to participate in parliamentary elections to be held this year in Kosovo, and Thaci called on them to cooperate, according to Radio Free Europe.

"Local elections were held with the active participation of Kosovo Serbs. Serbs should vote in parliamentary elections. The main question is how to convince Serbs in northern Kosovo to be constructive and that cooperation is in their interest," said Dačić.

Elections for mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica will be repeated on February 23, and Thaci promised full cooperation to solve practical, everyday problems to the new town administration, said the report.

"Local leaders say they are willing to cooperate and I cannot wait to begin to solve practical issues," said he.

Thaci said that the signing of an agreement on the normalization of relations in April 2013 meant that "Serbia and Kosovo freed themselves from the past and are now on better terms than they were a year and a half ago." "We're trying to implement it, but need to do more," Thaci said.

"At our first meeting the question was whether we would even shake hands, and now that nobody asks us that any longer. Nobody expected us to be where we are now," said Dačić.

Dačić, Thaci and Catherine Ashton will meet for a new round of dialogue on February 12 in Brussels.

"The political status of Kosovo is resolved. Kosovo is an independent state and it is irreversible, and the normalization of relations is in the interest of all," said Thaci.

The website of MSC estimated that the debate "on the future of Kosovo" became "an example of wise diplomacy."