Macedonia wants to take part in Kosovo talks, officials say

Macedonia wants to play a constructive role in the talks about Kosovo's future, the former Yugoslav republic's prime minister said Monday. Vlado Buckovski, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting bringing Southeastern European leaders to Vienna to discuss business opportunities, said he realized any role his country would play would be small, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Montenegro's prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, said his republic - which is part of a union with Serbia - would not be involved in the talks.

The U.N. Security Council has agreed that talks on the U.N.-administered province's future begin later this month. Belgrade's authority over Kosovo was removed following a 1999 NATO bombing campaign that halted ex-President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, according to the AP.

The province formally remains part of Serbia-Montenegro. Ethnic Albanians in the province demand full independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade insist that it remain part of Serbia-Montenegro. A.M.