Serbian President Says to Visit Kosovo on Saturday

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said during an address to the nation on Friday that he will visit Kosovo and Metohija on September 8-9.

"I will go to Kosovo tomorrow and start my visit from Gazivode Lake with a visit to the environmental center there," Vucic said.

In 2008, Kosovo authorities unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbia still regards Kosovo it as its Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In 2013, the Brussels Agreement on normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo was signed as the European Union persuaded Serbia to cooperate with Kosovo. In 2015, an accord on forming the self-governing association of the Serb-dominated regions of Kosovo was signed.

Previously, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Sputnik that the European Union was counting on a global and legally binding agreement between Serbia and Kosovo by the spring of 2019.

READ MORE: Kosovo Cancels Border Control With Albania, Scraps Roaming Charges — Reports

In August, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that he favored partitioning Kosovo along ethnic lines to avoid conflicts. According to this plan, Serbia would give up its southern areas, mostly inhabited by Albanians, for Kosovo's territories where the Serbian population prevails. President of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci rejected this plan, however.