(UNITED NATIONS) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Friday vowed that his country wanted to settle the issue of Kosovo through compromise and within the framework of European Union integration.

"By pursuing a policy of peace through compromise, the Western Balkans can truly be transformed into a region that submits to the rule of law, while embracing Europe," he said during a Security Council debate on Kosovo.

"We believe in peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes, including the one we are here today to discuss," he added.

"Such an approach is the only one that stands a chance to achieve a sustainable solution to Kosovo acceptable to all stakeholders."

Veremik said Belgrade showed that it was serious about securing EU membership by arresting Radovan Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, last Monday.

"Serbia strongly believes in the power of the 21st-century values of Europe and their ability to reconcile former adversaries," he added. "Consistent with these beliefs, I say: It is time to turn the page on the divisions of the recent past."

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