At the regional summit in Kranj, Slovenia, announced for March 20, Serbia will only take part if the representatives of Kosmet are present in line with UN Resolution 1244, stated Serbian President Boris Tadic, after the meeting with Prime Ministers of Slovenia and Croatia, i.e. Borut Pahor and Jadranka Kosor respectively.

Leaders from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia met in the Slovenian city of Ptuj Friday to discuss an upcoming regional conference on the European future of the Western Balkans.

The conference, scheduled for March 20 in Slovenia, would be the first meeting of all the political leaders in the region in 18 years.

Friday's informal gathering, drawing Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, and Serbian President Boris Tadic, was dedicated to finding a way to make sure that all invited representatives could attend the conference.

The trio said that such an informal meeting was an effective way to resolve issues of common concern and agreed to continue their high-level trilateral talks. The next such meeting will be held in Croatia.

Speaking at a press conference after their meeting, Tadic said that Serbia would take part if Kosovo "participates within the format defined by Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council," or Kosovo-UNMIK.

While pointing that it is the prerequisite for the participation of Serbian officials, Tadic reminded that in the previous period Kosmet has been presented in the international gatherings along those lines, so there is no reason to abandon such a practice in the future.

While stressing the importance of deepening the economic cooperation among Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, Tadic has emphasized that it is in the interest of all citizens in the southeastern Europe to establish the good political climate, as a condition of reconciliation and strengthening of the economic cooperation.

In stating that the membership in the EU is a common goal of the regional states, the Serbian President has said that on that course these countries must resolve their open issues one step at the time, thus preventing new conflicts.

Tadic, Pahor and Kosor have stated that they have achieved an agreement on the establishing of the personal “trilateral formation” in order to efficiently resolve the issues of the common interest. They announced that the next trilateral meeting will be held in Zagreb, and the following one in Belgrade.

On the other hand, Kosovo daily Express reports on the front page that all dilemmas have been removed: Kosovo will be represented as an independent state at the Brdo Conference in Slovenia. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci will speak on Kosovo’s behalf, whereas SRSG Lamberto Zannier will speak only on behalf of the UN Mission in Kosovo.

President Fatmir Sejdiu will not be attending the conference.

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said on Saturday that the Kosovo Albanian representatives would be taking part under a formula already used in the EU format, namely, that "participating states take part without their names written", and that "UNMIK too would be invited to the gathering".

According to media reports in Ljubljana, Zbogar would not make any further comments on this, saying only that "things change and that many details won't be harmonized until the last day".

But he did state once again that "both Tadic and Thaci confirmed their presence" at the forthcoming regional conference, "as did all other leaders of the Western Balkans countries that have been invited".