Serbia:Landmark talks between Serbian leaders and ethnic Albanian officials from Kosovo ended yesterday with little progress in the dispute over the future status of the breakaway province.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides reiterated their commitment to "engage seriously" in the talks, the first face-to-face discussions between the two.
European Union mediator Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters the two parties had consented to further direct talks, with the next meeting due to take place in Brussels on October 14.
"Both sides indicated to us through this meeting and through their conduct and through the conclusion that they wish this process to continue . . . This is a good sign," he said.
Speaking after the meeting, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu said he had proposed "a treaty of friendship between our two countries as two sovereign and independent nations".
He was critical of Serbia's approach to the meeting.
"Unfortunately they held steadfast to their position and the views that they had presented several times already," he said.
However, Serbian president Boris Tadic told reporters he hoped a "compromise solution" could be achieved. "We are proposing sustainable and substantial autonomy and we are providing the best possible conditions for the national Albanian ethnic group of Kosovo," he added.
The historic talks, held under the auspices of EU, US and Russian mediators on the margins of the UN General Assembly, mark the latest international effort to resolve the ongoing dispute over demands by Kosovo's Albanian majority for independence.
The province has been administered by the UN since Nato intervened to drive out Serbian forces in 1999.
Earlier this year the UN Secretary-General's special envoy on the issue, Martti Ahtisaari, proposed a staggered plan for supervised independence.
In July, a troika made up of the EU, Russia and the United States agreed to lead negotiations on the province's future status. It is due to submit its report to the UN Secretary-General by December 10th.
So far the international community has been divided on the issue. While Russia backs Serbia's position, the US supports Kosovo's demand for independence.
"There's going to be an independent Kosovo. We're dedicated to that," US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said earlier this week. "It's the only solution that is potentially stabilising for the Balkans rather than destabilising."
Meanwhile, the EU has struggled to find agreement on the issue due to the concerns of a small group of countries with their own minority or regional separatist movements.
In a statement issued on the eve of the talks by the so-called Contact Group - comprising the US, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - both Belgrade and Pristina were urged to seek common ground. "Ministers reiterated that an early resolution of Kosovo's status is crucial to the stability and security of the western Balkans and Europe as a whole," it said.
"There are responsibilities on both sides as this process continues," British foreign secretary David Miliband told reporters.
"Representatives in Belgrade and in Pristina need to engage . . . with real constructive spirit." The Serbian president was bullish in an address to the UN earlier in the week, in which he warned of "unforeseeable consequences" if Kosovo declared independence unilaterally.