The appointment of Matthew Palmer as the US special envoy to the Western Balkans proves how much it is important for the American diplomacy that Kosovo and Serbia reach a long-lasting solution, a retired US Army General Ben Hodges has told the Voice of America (VOA) on Thursday, adding Belgarde and Pristina leaders should have some economic incentives to offer to their peoples "immediately" to persuade them that a solution they will reach is for their benefit.

Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic said in a Ministerial Conference on Religious Freedom in Washington that members of the Serbian people, Church and Christian cultural and historic heritage in Kosovo and Metohija are the victims of a nationalistic ideology to create a homogeneous ethnic, cultural and religious area, RTS reports.

Serbian media reports that on 15 September President of Russia, Vladimir Putin will host Aleksandar Vucic President of Serbia to discuss a solution to Kosovo’s issue.

Before meeting Putin, in their 13th official encounter in several years, and the third since Vucic became the president, he will have another round of talks with Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci in Brussels, within the framework of the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue facilitated by the European Union, planned for early next month.

According to the media reports, referring to unnamed sources, political directors for the Western Balkans of five Western countries, met on consultations on the final phase of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, scheduled to take place in the coming months and be crowned by a final agreement between the parties, expected to result in a normalization of relations.