United States (U.S.) Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Ricker will Thursday visit Belgrade as part of his tour of the region.

During his visit to Belgrade, Ricker will meet with Serbian government officials and civil society representatives, the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade has told Tanjug.

Ricker is coming to Belgrade following his visit to Pristina, where he met with Prime Minister Hasim Taci and ministers in the Kosovo government.

After his meeting with Taci, Ricker said Kosovo was an independent and sovereign country and as such had the right to enforce the rule of law on its entire territory, including the north.

He said the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Kosovo was certain and that it was necessary to eliminate lawlessness in the north or any other part of the territory.

Ricker also visited the medieval monastery Gracanica, where he was received by Serbian Orthodox Church Bishop of Raska and Prizren Teodosije.

Ricker serves as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs and is in charge of the relations between the U.S. and Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia.