UNMIK recognizes as status-neutral the customs stamps which read Kosovo Customs, the spokesperson of UNMIK Olivier Salgado told Tanjug on Tuesday.

The use of these customs stamps fully reflects the status-neutral policy defined in the report of UN secretary general on June 12 , 2008, addressed to the UN Security Council, Salgado said.

He believes that the Kosovo customs stamps approved by UNMIK should be recognized and that all parties need to respect the CEFTA agreement.

We hope that this issue will soon be resolved during the dialogue which is expected to be resumed at the beginning of September, Salgado said.

Head of Belgrade's negotiating team in the talks with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic told Tanjug on Monday that Belgrade finds acceptable all solutions for customs stamps which do not impinge upon the issue of Kosovo status.

All other solutions which do not impinge upon the status of Kosovo are on the cards. We have different proposals, but one thing is certain - Belgrade cannot accept customs stamps which read The Republic of Kosovo-Customs or anything else that has the symbols of statehood. Moreover, the accompanying documentation has to be status neutral, Stefanovic told Tanjug.

EP rapporteur for Serbia says Belgrade-Pristina conflict over customs stamps is unnecessary

European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin believes that the current conflict between Belgrade and Pristina over the issue of customs stamps is unnecessary and contrary to the interests of Serbia's economy, and added that the UN mission in Kosovo has recognised the stamp.

The issue of the Kosovo customs stamp constitutes one of the most important problems on whose resolution the EU has been insisting for years now, Kacin said in an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Danas.

Kacin expressed belief that it is very important to Serbian exporters for the economy and trade to develop so that they could continue uninterruptedly exporting their goods to Kosovo.

It should not matter to anyone what might be written on a stamp, Kacin said and added that Serbia is burdened by an enormous trade deficit and the Belgrade government needs to work on solving this problem instead of aggravating it even further by contributing to the situation in which Belgrade and Pristina are engrossed in a commercial war.

As he noted, the stamp was recognised by UNMIK as a body of the UN, and the current conflict is completely unnecessary and contrary to the interests of Serbia's economy and, primarily, to the interests of Serbs who decided to stay in Kosovo.

Kacin also believes that Serbia's European integration would suffer a serious standstill in case the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels was interrupted or delayed.

Speaking about whether recognition of Kosovo constitutes a condition for Serbia's European integration, Kacin underscored that Brussels insists on regional cooperation and fight against systemic corruption, through whić almost all other relevant issues are refracted.

Pointing out that the main condition for Serbia's EU accession lies in the implementation of the Action Plan, Kacin noted that recognition of Kosovo has not been set as a condition at all, but the issue is constantly and persistently brought up by the Serbian side.

He qualified as mere speculation the claims that partition of Kosovo is underway and that even the U.S. is interested in that option.

The stand of Washington and Brussels is crystal-clear - any ethnic divisions are unacceptable, Kacin stated.