Nikolic says head of team for Kosovo to be of highest political level

BELGRADE, Sept 27 (Hina) - Belgrade has to choose the chief of the negotiating team for talks with Pristina at the highest political level, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Thursday after talks with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton in New York.

Nikolic said Ashton would represent the EU in those talks and Prime Minister Ivica Dacic would head the Serbian team, but added that he would not run from the responsibility if authorised to do so, Belgrade's electronic media reported.

Nikolic told Serbian correspondents in New York that Serbia's position on Kosovo would be prepared as soon as he returned to Belgrade, and that Ashton informed him that the EU did not nor would ever insist that Serbia recognise Kosovo's independence.

"We have come to the end of meeting the demands which we have seen led to Kosovo's independence and won't do another step in that direction, which I stressed at the (UN) General Assembly," Nikolic said.