Jeremic: Serbia fighting to secure new negotiations

He told Belgrade's Blic newspaper that Belgrade's efforts come despite the fact that "several extremely powerful states still strongly oppose that".

Jeremic said that he was convinced Serbia would "eventually be successful if we resist all pressure and carry on with hard work".

According to him, it would "make sense for a majority were to be formed in the UN General Assembly, with the position that a compromise solution for Kosovo can be achieved only by new negotiations".

"The debate in the UN General Assembly will be a moment of truth and probably the most crucial episode in our diplomatic strategy. Its outcome will decide the future path of the Kosovo process. It will certainly be much harder than the last time, but we have no choice - we must secure a majority," the minister underscored.

Jeremic stressed that "everything points to the fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will give its opinion "in the very near future, and according to what we have learned out from various sources, we have reasons for optimism."

The ICJ is expected to give its advisory opinion on the legality under international law of the Kosovo Albanian unilateral proclamation of independence, made in February 2008. The UN General Assembly forwarded the case to the top UN court with a large majority, at Serbia's request.