The Contact Group for Kosovo is gathering Monday in Sofia for a two-day meeting dedicated to the Kosovo status negotiations.

During the previous meeting held in the beginning of this month, the six members of the group discussed the timetable for the talks seeking to clear the status of the UN-administered province. Then the Contact group reiterated that "it completely supports Martti Ahtisaari in his role of a mediator".

Now in Sofia, UN Special envoy Martti Ahtisaari will brief Russian, US, French, British, German and Italian foreign ministry political directors, while on Tuesday they will be joined by South-Eastern European countries' officials, as well as those representing EU, NATO, UN and OSCE.

Serbia will be represented by ambassador Dejan Sahovic, deputy Foreign minister. UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker and Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku will also be present.

Beside the representatives from Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia, and UNMIK, the second day meetings will be attended by the Macedonian, Slovenian and Turkish officials, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Sofia meeting will take place just two days after Serbian President Boris Tadic visited Washington. According to media, it has apparently produced no change in the two countries' stances. American officials suggest that the Kosovo status solution calls for independence US, while Belgrade insists that Kosovo's independence is unacceptable.

Kosovo is technically part of Serbia but has been run by the UN since 1999. The vast majority of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian who have been pressing for independence.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku has ruled out partition as an option and the international community has said it does not want to see the province's boundaries changed.

UN-brokered talks on the future of the province have so far brought no breakthrough.

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