FM pushes for Kosovo deal
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday visited Belgrade and Pristina, where she urged Serbs and ethnic Albanians to reach a compromise on Kosovo. «We favor the idea of a multiethnic Kosovo without partitions and ethnic divisions,» Bakoyannis said after talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Tadic stressed that «Kosovo’s independence is out of the question for Serbia.» And Kostunica warned that granting autonomy to Kosovo would «jeopardize the stability of the entire region.» In Pristina, Bakoyannis impressed upon Kosovo officials the need for a constructive approach to talks and for progress on the issue of protecting Kosovo’s Serbian minority. Meanwhile in Athens, the Foreign Ministry said Bakoyannis is due to meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Bakoyannis is also due to meet with her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul in New York next Monday.
