BELGRADE, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Kosovo will declare independence in full coordination and close cooperation with the United States and the European Union, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said Thursday in the provincial capital Pristina.

    After a farewell meeting with head of the EU Planning Team for Kosovo Casper Klynge, Sejdiu said that Kosovo "is now facing great decisions," the Serbian national news agency Tanjug reported.

Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu (R) briefs the media next to Kosovo Albanian Democratic Party leader Hashim Thaci after talks on the UN Kosovo plan for the independence of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, in Baden, some 50 kilometres south of Vienna, Nov. 28, 2007.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "These decisions will be taken in cooperation with Kosovo's friends the U.S. and the EU as soon as its new parliament and government are constituted," he said.

    The Nov. 17 parliamentary elections in Kosovo were won by the Democratic Party of Kosovo of Hashim Thaci, former Kosovo Liberation Army commander, who said he would declare Kosovo independent "immediately" after Dec. 10, the U.N. deadline for international mediators trying to negotiate a settlement between Kosovo and Serbia.

    Thaci, who is expected to be the new Kosovo prime minister, said on Thursday after meeting U.N. Mission chief Joachim Rucker that Pristina would take all decisions on status in close cooperation and with the support of the international community, above all the United States and the European Union.

    Serbia has vowed never to recognize an independent Kosovo, instead offering essential autonomy for the restive province – an idea the province's dominant ethnic Albanians have repeatedly rejected.

    Although formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when NATO's 78-day intensive bombing forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against insurgent ethnic Albanians and withdraw its troops from Kosovo. 

    Serbia rules out military intervention in Kosovo

    BELGRADE, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac Thursday ruled out military intervention in Kosovo even if ethnic Albanians unilaterally declare independence.

    Serbia has vowed not to recognize an independent Kosovo and instead offered broad autonomy for the province, an idea the province's dominant ethnic Albanians have rejected.