7:25am EST

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Albania's prime minister, the first to visit Serbia in 68 years, urged Belgrade on Monday to accept the independence of majority-Albanian Kosovo and was accused by his Serbian counterpart of "provocation".

"The sooner you recognize (Kosovan independence) the sooner we can move ahead," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in comments translated into Serbian during a tense press conference with Serbian premier Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic said Rama's remarks represented a "provocation" and that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, as a sovereign state.