Mrkic: Vatican has no intention of recognizing Kosovo

In an interview to the Monday issue of the Belgrade-based daily, he said that a senior official of the Holy See will visit Belgrade soon, which will be an opportunity for Serbia to underline its principled position in relation to the defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.Pristina is not giving up on lobbying for new recognitions, but in the last months much of the pressure has focused on the Vatican. However, the Serbian diplomacy is constantly engaged on preventing new recognitions and these efforts will remain one of Serbia's foreign policy priorities, he said."Six years have passed since the secessionist attempt of Pristina to declare itself a new Albanian state in the Serbian territory. I remember that at that time pessimists were saying that a great majority of UN member states will recognize this unilateral independence in a year's time. But, that did not happen," he said.Mrkic said that the big and powerful countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil, the South-African Republic, Indonesia, Iran and Argentina did not recognize Kosovo's independence, and have no intention of doing that.Pristina's authorities and their powerful allies are exerting constant pressure on the five EU member states which have not recognized the so-called state of Kosovo to change their position on that, but Mrkic told Novosti that there are no hints from Greece, Spain, Romania, Cyprus or Slovakia that they might do that."Our officials are particularly focused on explaining the importance of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in all contacts with the partners that have not recognized the unilaterally proclaimed independence, and that Serbia has no intention of recognizing Kosovo, and that it could not be a final outcome of the dialogue, but that the talks are aimed at ensuring the stay and normal life for our citizens in Kosovo," Mrkic said.