(The Sofia Echo) - The diplomatic war of attrition between Serbia and Kosovo returns to the United Nations stage on September 15 at a General Assembly meeting.

Belgrade, which is adamantly opposed to the unilateral declaration of independence issued in Pristina in February 2008, scored a point at a General Assembly meeting later that year when it won backing for a resolution referring the question of Kosovo’s independence to the World Court for a non-binding opinion.

Radio Srbija said that Jeremic faced a very difficult task at the 2009 General Assembly session, preventing Pristina and its allies launching an offensive aimed at drastically increasing the number of countries recognizing Kosovo as independent.

The General Assembly debate is taking place as the beginning of formal argument in the World Court approaches, currently scheduled for December 1. This makes the General Assembly debate crucial because it is widely expected that it will be difficult to persuade countries to change their positions after the World Court process gets underway.

All five permanent members of the UN Security Council are expected to take part in the General Assembly debate.

As part of the lobbying process, Jeremic has met ambassadors to the UN of Russia, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria and Vietnam.
In Pristina, daily Express said that Kosovo was making its own preparations for the General Assembly debate, where it will be on the sidelines as a country not recognized by the UN.

Kosovo’s chief representatives at the UN event will be its president, Fatmir Sejdiu and foreign minister Skender Hyseni. They will be working on the margins of the meeting to try to secure new recognitions.

"Jeremic cannot prevent Kosovo’s diplomacy. Belgrade’s offensive at the UN General Assembly is also futile. Together with the president we will be going to New York, where we are going to have nearly 40 meetings. New recognitions are expected to come," Express quoted Hyseni as saying.

Currently, 62 of 192 UN countries and 22 out of 27 EU countries have recognized Kosovo as independent.

Influential countries that were in the first wave of recognition include the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

South Eastern European countries that recognize Kosovo include Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Macedonia.

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