I come to Belgrade with the message that Germany will continue to be a sincere and reliable partner to Serbia on its way towards the EU, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier ahead of his visit to Serbia on April 28.

Serbia has taken major steps forward in the past few years - the historic agreement on the normalization of relations with Kosovo, the opening of EU accession talks, the beginning of painful but much needed economic reforms, Steinmeier pointed out in an interview to Tanjug, commenting on Serbia's progress since the new government took power.

Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, Edita Tahiri, said on Friday that as of last year, Serbia is blocked because it’s not respecting the agreements reached with Kosovo. She said that any agreement made with Serbia was signed on the principle of reciprocity. But, according to her, there are delays on the implementation of agreements because of the history between Kosovo and Serbia.  "Sometimes it is not good to mention this but I say that Serbia committed genocide in Kosovo,” Tahiri said.

The Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevics, during his visit to Kosovo on Thursday said that the recent statements of Belgrade officials barring the visit of Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci to Serbia, are against the Pristina – Belgrade dialogue. According to him, such statements do not help the process of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. "Politicians on both sides have to abide by such statements," said Minister Rinkevics.

The President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga met on Thursday with young girls from Kosovo and Serbia, participating in the Peace Academy for Girls, and answered their questions on the role of women. Jahjaga commended the girls who are part of this platform of building bridges of cooperation and sustainable peace.

Edita Tahiri, Minister for dialogue of the Kosovo government, said for Kallxo.com that the issue of Kosovo assets was never discussed in the meetings between the Kosovar and Serbian parties in Brussels.

“Such issue was not opened at the meeting of the prime ministers either. Our position on the Ujman/Gazivoda issue, respectively on all Kosovo assets is that we do not discuss them with anyone under any circumstances,” said Tahiri.

International reactions towards the decision of Belgrade to forbid the visit of Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, continue.

Ambassador Frank Wisner, who was also chief negotiator of the U.S. State Department during the Vienna negotiations, gave an extensive statement for Kosova Press, where he condemned Belgrade’s behavior as “an unfortunate example for a lost opportunity to advance the relations between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia.”

The President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić said today that it is not good that Pristina is encouraged by anyone to think that independence is the final goal of the ongoing dialogue in Brussels.

Former EU Special Envoy for Kosovo, Wolfgang Petrisch said in an interview for RTK that at the end of the entire created situation on whether the Principal Deputy of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci should go to Belgrade or not, Serbia was the loser.

Police General Directors from the region will meet today in Pristina for a workshop on confrontation of terrorism and violent extremism.

According to a press release, the general directors from Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and the United States will be present at this meeting.

The prestigious Austrian daily Die Presse published today analysis on Serbia’s rejection of the visit of Kosovo’s Principal Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci to Belgrade.