The Serbian government on Thursday set up a special negotiating team made up of leading politicians for Kosovo's future status talks.

The group includes three main negotiators, an operative group and a standing advisor, said a statement released by the Serbian government. It added that the team was set up on the basis of the Serbian parliament resolution in Nov. 21.

The statement said that the main negotiators were Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, President Boris Tadic, both acting as co-chairman of the team, as well as Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

The operative part consists of nine people, including advisors to the two co-chairmen as well as Kosovo Serb representatives, said the statement, adding that the standing advisor was Thomas Fleiner, professor of the Swiss Law School Fribourg and director of the Institute of Federalism.

Meanwhile, UN envoy on Kosovo status talks and veteran peace broker Martti Ahtisaari arrived in Belgrade on Thursday following his two-day visit to Kosovo, a Serbian breakaway province under UN administration since mid-1999.

The status talks are initially to be held in a form of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina, before the two sides become ready to sit around a table and begin direct talks about whether Kosovo will become independent or remain part of Serbia.

Source: Xinhua