Serbian President Boris Tadic said in New York  that Serbia is ready for a dialogue with Pristina and that the country is confident that the centrality and leading role of the Security Council in determining a comprehensive settlement of the Kosovo issue remains paramount, and would provide legitimacy to the result of the process.

"Serbia's position remains unchanged. The unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo will not be recognized by Serbia explicitly or implicitly. This is enshrined in our constitution," Tadic said in his address before the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

He, however, underscored that Serbia is ready to engage in the process that will hopefully lead to a mutually-acceptable compromise solution to the problem of Kosovo, through globally acknowledged law - the law of the U.N.

President Tadic recalled that the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue was enabled by the Serbia-EU Resolution on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, adopted by the General Assembly a few weeks ago.

"This resolution is fundamentally status-neutral with regards to the status of Kosovo. All other interpretations do not correspond to the truth," underscored Tadic.

"Serbia welcomes this resolution. We look forward to engage in the process that will hopefully lead to a mutually-acceptable compromise solution to the problem of Kosovo," said President Tadic.

"Serbia has always maintained that the attempt to secede unilaterally is a violation of the basic principles of the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

"A vast majority of UN member States have refrained from recognizing Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. They have continued to abide by their UN Charter obligations to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country.

"On behalf of the Republic of Serbia, allow me once again to sincerely thank these countries for their support and solidarity," said President Tadic.

Serbia abides by its Constitution and will never recognize Kosovo, underscored President Tadic.

"This is why we have repeatedly said we seek dialogue but within a framework of globally acknowledged law. The law of the United Nations.

"For this reason we insisted on the process of seeking the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the subsequent resolution related to the Court's opinion at the General Assembly," said Tadic.

"The ICJ's advisory opinion reaffirmed that Kosovo remains under the interim administration of the United Nations and that the Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) and that the UN's Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo stays in force and continues to apply - meaning that this part of our territory remains subject to an international regime mandated by the Security Council.

"The centrality and leading role of the Security Council in determining the comprehensive settlement of the Kosovo issue remains paramount, and would provide legitimacy to the result," underscored the Serbian president.

Tadic also said that the ICJ did not endorse the view that Kosovo's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was sui generis - a unique case, nor did it endorse any purported right to self-determination for the province's ethnic Albanians.

The Court, he said, chose to examine the language of Kosovo's UDI and the Court held the view that the text of the Declaration itself did not contain anything that violates international law.

"The Court, thus, did not approve the province's right to secession from Serbia nor did it support the claim that Kosovo is a sovereign state. The Court's opinion is clear: the UDI was only 'an attempt to determine finally the status of Kosovo'," said Tadic.

Underlining that Serbia is ready to engage in a dialogue and calling the U.N. member states to join in the dialogue, Tadic said that the talks require trust.

"I trust that we can enter a phase in which all parties will leave behind them anachronistic analyses and diplomatic ambushes. We must be able to build confidence to have trust," said Tadic.

He also said that Serbia believes that the continued pursuit of recognitions is futile and counter-productive to the spirit in which we now enter.

"I want to underline that it is of critical importance for the UN member States that have not recognized Kosovo's UDI to stay the course on non-recognition over the course of the dialogue process. This will be a significant contribution to ensuring that unilateral attempts to impose outcomes to ethnic and territorial disputes are not legitimized, thereby preventing Kosovo's UDI from becoming a dangerous and destabilizing precedent." the Serbian president said.

Saying that until now, statehood has never been attained without the consent of the parent state, Tadic added that a durable settlement on an issue of such magnitude and sensitivity has never been the product of compulsion-it always necessitates consent.

Speaking about the Balkans, Tadic said that he believes that the future of the region lies in seeking reconciliation.

He recalled that the Serbian National Assembly had adopted a historic Declaration on Srebrenica: a crime was condemned and an apology was extended.

"There is little precedent for such an action and I am proud in that it demonstrates the maturity of the democracy of Serbia. I hope that more such gestures throughout our region will help us create a new region in which our shared history will unite us morally rather than divide us politically," said Tadic.

For this, surely, is the foundation upon which the future will be built, said Tadic, adding that his guiding light is the history of the European Union, which is a story of reconstruction and reconciliation that is not over yet.

"We have to assume that the European Union will remain true to its word that the inhabitants of the region now referred to as the Western Balkans will all become citizens of the European Union. It would be a geographical, historical and cultural aberration if this were not so," said President Tadic.

Tadic cautioned that organized crime in the Western Balkans is the greatest single challenge to Serbia and the region as a whole.

"We have a common responsibility as leaders in our region to eliminate this scourge on our societies, and Serbia will spare no effort in our quest to eradicate this threat. It is our responsibility to all our neighbors," underscored Tadic.

"It is a strategic issue that affects all of Europe," underlined President Tadic.

"In our region, we have a responsibility to create a strategic alliance against organized crime. We hope that all Western Balkan states will make fighting it a priority. We owe this to our citizens, we owe it to our neighbors in the European Union, and we owe it to the next generation," concluded the Serbian president.