(BELGRADE) - Serbia saw a "real chance" of an agreement being made on the international civilian presence in its breakaway province of Kosovo, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in an interview published Thursday.

"There is a real chance ... of reaching an agreement by September or October regarding the international civilian presence in Kosovo which could be explicitly confirmed by the UN Security Council," Jeremic told the daily Vecernje Novosti.

Jeremic said any deal could not call into question Serbia's territorial integrity, nor implement a blueprint for Kosovo's "supervised independence" as drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

The agreement would have to specify "the mandate and composition of this international presence with the understanding of the participation of the EU under UN auspices, within the framework of 1244," he added.

UN Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised the presence of UNMIK, the UN's interim mission in Kosovo, after NATO bombing in 1999 drove out Serbian forces waging a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

The so-called Ahtisaari plan, which the former Finnish president devised after failed talks on Kosovo's status, foresaw its independence "supervised" by EULEX, a 3,000-strong police and justice mission of the European Union.

However it was rejected by China and Russia, a longtime ally of Serbia, in mid-2007 before it was voted on at the Security Council, where they have the power of veto.

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17. It has been recognised by 45 nations led by the United States and most EU members.

Serbia is currently engaged in talks with UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier to find a solution to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's plans to put EULEX under the umbrella of a downsized UNMIK mission.

On Sunday, Jeremic slammed the plans to revamp UNMIK as a "very serious mistake" and warned the Kosovo issue "can disrupt peace and stability in the Balkans for a long time to come."

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