Talks to decide on Kosovo's future status are likely to be a long, drawn-out process, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Pristina on Tuesday.

"This is going to be a long process. It is going to be a process with tensions and complications that will make everybody sometimes have to make painful sacrifices and painful engagements and commitments," Solana, who arrived here Tuesday after visiting Belgrade, told a news conference.

He said a "new page" in Kosovo's history was being opened with the upcoming status talks, adding that the European Union would provide assistance to the region, the official Tanjug news agency reported from Kosovo's capital Pristina.

"You have started your journey and if everything turns out fine, you can end up in Brussels," Solana said.

He said the Kosovo government would have to continue implementing the decentralization process and invest more efforts to implement standards in order to gain the trust of all people in Kosovo and all countries in the region.

Kosovo has been placed under UN administration since 1999. Its future status is a bitter subject between Belgrade and Kosovo's Albanian majority, who are demanding independence.

Solana will meet with local political leaders during his one-day visit to Kosovo.

Source: Xinhua