"Serbia will not have to recognize Kosovo"

"Serbia will not have to recognize Kosovo"

"As the things look now, Serbia will not be obliged to recognize Kosovo's independence because decisions in the EU are adopted by a consensus and we have five EU member countries which do not recognize Kosovo's current status," Kasoulides said.

Cyprus is one of the five EU countries which have not recognized Kosovo's independence and Kasoulides said that it is still too early to discuss the end of the negotiating process.

He reiterated that the international community welcomed the agreement on the normalization of the Belgrade-Priština relations achieved in Brussels on April 13, 2013, and noted that this required a lot of courage and statehood skill.

When asked about potential parallels between the issue of Cyprus and the Kosovo issue, Kasoulides recalled that the leaders of Greeks and Turks recently achieved an agreement according to which the future of Cyprus lies in a federation comprising two zones and a unified country with its sovereignty and nationality.

Comparisons with Kosovo cannot be made as no two problems are the same, he said.

"Look at how we completed the project after we became a member country, and we simultaneously had a problem with the occupation of a part of the island," the Cypriot foreign minister said and added that what Serbia needs now is to be well-prepared so that its candidacy is such that it cannot be refused at the moment when the decision on membership is adopted.

He stated that the relations between Serbia and Cyprus are excellent having in mind the cultural, traditional and historic ties. Kasoulides said that the two countries are working together and that Cyprus will provide assistance to Serbia on its EU path.

He reiterated that a joint meeting of the two governments was held in Belgrade and announced that a ministerial meeting should be held in Cyprus in late 2014.

On February 24, Kasoulides visited Belgrade and conferred with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkić.