Kosovo deplores meagre progress in Serbia talks

(VIENNA) - Kosovo's foreign minister Enver Hoxhaj regretted Tuesday the meagre progress achieved in talks with Serbia in Brussels, insisting that Pristina is keen on reconciliation with Belgrade.

Although Serbia and Kosovo made limited progress in talks to normalise ties, the EU-supervised discussions were "a good instrument to create trust between the two countries," Hoxhaj told journalists on a visit to Vienna.

"We are very interested in entertaining normal relations with Serbia, we're also interested in a reconciliation process."

The goal of talks in Brussels however was not just to reach agreements, "but also to put these agreements into action," Hoxhaj insisted.

Serbia and Kosovo returned to the negotiating table Monday after talks collapsed in September when a border dispute in northern Kosovo turned violent.

"There is no other country in Europe that tries to administer an area in another country using the police and security forces, like Serbia," Hoxhaj complained Tuesday.

His Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger meanwhile put pressure on the two neighbours to solve their disputes.

"It should be clear to Belgrade and Pristina that the European Union will not import any unresolved regional trouble spots," he told a joint press conference.

Belgrade is keen to win entry into the EU and the talks with Kosovo are seen as key to an upcoming EU decision in December.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade and the Serbs in northern Kosovo have rejected the move and still consider the region to be Serbia's southern province.