A top US State Department official is in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss the Kosovo issue and overall stability in the region. Philip Reeker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, has arrived on a three-day visit to Belgrade as part of his Balkan tour aimed at ensuring long-term stability in the region. He is scheduled to meet with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Serbia's chief negotiator in the Kosovo talks, Boris Stefanovic, and other state officials and representatives of civil society. According to Stefanovic, one of main topics of the meetings will be Tadic's four-point plan for resolving the Kosovo issue. The plan includes a special status for Serbian monasteries in Kosovo; guarantees for Serbs living in enclaves in Kosovo; guarantees for property of the Serbian state and its citizens in Kosovo; and a resolution of the status issue in the north of Kosovo, where most Serbs live.
The issue of the representation of Kosovo in regional forums will also be on the table during Reeker's visit to the Serbian capital. Since 2008 Serbia has refused to participate in forums and conferences where Kosovo is represented as an independent country with its own state symbols. However, an agreement on Kosovo's participation in regional meetings is one of the conditions that the EU has set for Serbia to obtain candidate status. Following his visit to Pristina earlier this week, Reeker stressed that there can be no partition or change of borders in the region. In an interview with Pristina broadcaster RTK, Reeker said that the Serbs in northern Kosovo would integrate into the country's institutions.
"There can be no change of borders, nor partition, nor exchange of territories in the region. Serbs in southern Kosovo were integrated and they are citizens of a free and democratic Kosovo. The Serbs in the north will be integrated into the Kosovo institutions, " the broadcaster quoted him as saying.
In addition to Pristina, Reeker also made a stop in Skopje earlier this week, and is expected to head to Turkey and Austria following his meetings in Belgrade.
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