Biden says US 'does not expect' Serbia to recognise Kosovo

(BELGRADE) - Vice President Joe Biden said here Wednesday that the United States "does not expect" Serbia to recognise its breakaway province of Kosovo following its declaration of independence last year.

"The United States does not expect, I repeat, does not expect Serbia to recognise Kosovo," Biden told a joint Belgrade media conference with Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic.

Biden, the most senior US official to visit the Balkan country since Jimmy Carter came here as president in 1980, stressed the Obama administration wanted to improve ties with Serbia, strained over US backing for Kosovo's statehood.

"We agree to disagree" on Kosovo, he said after emerging from a meeting with Tadic, which lasted a longer-than-expected 70 minutes.

He voiced Washington's strong support for Serbia's hopes of joining the European Union, so far held up by the Balkan country's failure to capture two last war crimes fugitives including genocide suspect Ratko Mladic.

The Serbian leader reiterated his country's staunch opposition to Kosovo independence, declared unilaterally in February 2008 by its ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament and promptly recognised by the US.

"Serbia does not and will never recognize Kosovo. It is Serbia's legitimate right to defend its territorial integrity through the use of peaceful, diplomatic and legal means," said Tadic.

"Notwithstanding our different positions on the Kosovo question, Serbia wishes for the best possible relations with the United States, as partners.

"Vice President Biden and I have agreed that we now have with an opportunity to establish a completely new level of communication between our two countries.

"I am convinced that we can achieve a great deal on the basis of dialogue rooted in mutual respect," said Tadic.