Macedonia will support and accept the result of the talks for the future status of Kosovo, as long as the solution does not imply any change of borders and contribute to regional security and stability, Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said Sunday.

Crvenkovski made the statement in the capital city of Skopje during his meeting with the chief UN envoy for Kosovo's future, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, Macedonia News Agency reported.

As far as Macedonia and other countries of the region are concerned, priority should be given to the establishment of legal and judicial institutions in the future status talks of Kosovo, and Macedonia has made great contribution to Kosovo and the Balkan region as a whole in this regard, Crvenkovski said.

During the meeting, Ahtisaari, who had just visited Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, a province of Serbia Montenegro, and Albania, briefed Crvenkovski on the stances of Pristina and Belgrade on this issue.

The envoy noted that the stances of countries bordering Kosovo are of great significance to the process of the province's future status talks. He praised Macedonia for its progress in strengthening ties with the European Union and its exemplary role in maintaining stability in the region.

Ahtisaari arrived in the Macedonian capital Skopje on Saturday evening after visiting Pristina, Belgrade, Podgorica and Tirana in a bid to jump-start the negotiations to determine the future status of Kosovo.

Kosovo, now part of Serbia, has been under UN administration since mid-1999. Serbia hopes to retain sovereignty over Kosovo but the province's ethnic Albanian majority is demanding outright independence. Macedonia also has a sizable ethnic Albanian minority.

Albania insists that Kosovo need a continuous international peacekeeping presence to maintain its balance of security and that Tirana has no territorial claims.

Source: Xinhua