Britain's Hague says talks vital for Kosovo, Serbia EU hopes

(PRISTINA) - British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Thursday urged Kosovo and Serbia to continue dialogue aimed at easing tensions, saying it was crucial for their future integration into the European Union.

During a visit to Pristina, Hague welcomed last week's historic meeting between Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic in EU-brokered talks, launched in March 2011 at a lower level.

The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton chaired the top level meeting last Friday in Brussels.

"Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia on normalising relations is essential for both countries as they move towards EU integration," Hague told reporters after meeting Thaci.

The 27-state bloc seeks to give fresh impetus to months of efforts to end the day-to-day problems caused by Serbia's refusal to recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008.

"I urge all sides to maintain the momentum after that meeting," Hague said, adding that was the same message he was to deliver later in the day in Belgrade.

Serbia is an EU candidate member and Kosovo hopes to formalise ties, but the bloc has made clear to both that they must re-enter talks and show concrete results before moving forward on the long path towards full membership.

However, Thaci said he did not expect the dialogue to bring immediate recognition by Serbia.

"We have to be realistic and not wait for Serbia to recognise Kosovo in days, weeks and months to come," Thaci said.

Nevertheless, he estimated that the dialogue and normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia will eventually "lead to recognition of Kosovo by five members of the EU."

In Belgrade, President Tomislav Nikolic said after meeting Hague that Serbia was "ready to make a lot of compromises in order to solve (the) Kosovo issue, but it would expect (the) ethnic Albanian side to do the same," his office said in a statement.

Kosovo is recognised by some 90 states including the United States and 22 of the EU's 27 members.