On July 30 and 31 Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas visited Belgrade and Pristina. In Belgrade Droutsas had meetings with the President and Foreign Minister of Serbia, Boris Tadic, and Vuk Jeremic [photo on the right]. In Pristina, he met with President Fatmir Sejdiu [photo below] and Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi [photo at the bottom].

At a press conference on July 31, Droutsas stressed that his visit to Belgrade was aimed at briefing the Serbian leadership on the EU ministers' council that discussed Kosovo in light of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the issue (pdf).

Droutsas underlined that viable solutions based on consensus for all oustanding issues in the region were being sought and reiterated that Greece's position on the Kosovo issue is well known and will not change.

He also noted that Greece is willing to play a special mediatory role in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina, highlighting the potential contribution of Prime Minister George Papandreou to an open dialogue between the two sides.