UN envoy on Kosovo's future status talks, Martti Ahtisaari, will have his Vienna-based office operational starting next year, a UN spokesperson said in Pristina on Tuesday.

Ahtisaari's advisors have been engaged in the organization of his office in Vienna and it is expected to become operational starting Jan. 1, 2006, said Hua Jiang, spokesperson of the UN mission in Kosovo.

She told Xinhua over the telephone that Ahtisaari has his office based in Vienna due to its close vicinity to the Balkans and the fact that Austria will take over the EU presidency in the first half of 2006.

Earlier in November, the United Nations has authorized Ahtisaari to launch the future status talks for Kosovo, a Serbian breakaway province under UN administration since mid-1999.

During the first tour of the Balkans last week, Ahtisaari had said that his team comprises his deputy Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan and four liaison officers from EU, NATO, Russia and the United States. The team would occassionally engage experts for certain spheres during the talks.

Jiang said that one of Ahtisaari's advisors on Tuesday informed representatives of six Contact Group member-countries about the content and results of Ahtisaari's visit to the Balkans.

Source: Xinhua