Serbian President Boris Tadic stated in New York on Sept. 23, after a meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will begin soon, but that the sides should resolve technical issues before that.

Tadic said on the sidelines of the 65th General Assembly of the U.N. that he and Ashton agreed on important elements of the dialogue, who would chair it and in which way, the FoNet news agency reported.

Tadic said that it was early to speak about the participants in the dialogue, but that "there is no dilemma that the negotiating teams will consist of experts." He also announced that the EU will form its own team, which will participate in the talks and facilitate the overcoming of contested issues.

The Serbian president said that Belgrade had proposed that the talks start with those issues that are the easiest to solve, in order for the entire dialogue to be conducted in a good atmosphere.

Tadic said that Ashton assured him that the EU countries would work very intensely during October on pushing forward Serbia's EU membership candidacy.

"For this purpose, I had talks in New York today with the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, who assured me that Berlin will provide principled support to Serbia's European integration," Tadic said.