Deputy Prime Minister EditaTahiri heads the Pristina team

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has decided that Pristina's delegation in negotiations with Belgrade on practical issues is to be led by Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri, the Kosovo Government communicated.

At a session in late January, the Serbian Government formally appointed Political Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Borko Stefanovic to head the national team in talks with Pristina.

Head of the Belgrade Team for talks with Pristina Borko Stefanovic assessed that appointment of Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri to the position of a leader of the Pristina negotiating team, is a sign that the Kosovo Government does not see the upcoming talks as strictly technical.

By appointing a highly-ranked Government figure, Pristina indicated that it takes talks seriously and that the talks will not be technical in nature, said Stefanovic. Stefanovic expects the starting date for talks to be known next week, and the first meeting to be held in Brussels in the first half of March.

In September, after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Kosovo that Serbia presented with the EU support, both parties were invited to the dialogue. The dialogue has been postponed by early elections in Kosovo, and the election of new institutions that has ended earlier this week.