He voiced hope that the Kosovo issue would not pull Serbia back, saying Serbia must go forward. Bildt met Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica as well as the president of the G17 Plus party and ex-finance minister Mladjan Dinkic.
Bildt said that although recently he had been playing an active diplomatic role in connection with Kosovo's future status, he would not be a new mediator in the final status talks. He confirmed that he had discussed Kosovo with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington recently, but declined to go into detail.
Foreign Minister Draskovic said that despite the possibility of the Kosovo solution being negative for Serbia, Serbia must remain strong and prosperous so as to continue the diplomatic struggle to correct such a solution.
Today's talks also addressed Serbia's European integration and problems arising from its failure to arrest and extradite Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Bildt said that he told Serbian President Boris Tadic yesterday that he hoped Serbia would continue with democratic and economic reforms so as to draw closer to the EU.
Bildt said that the January 21 parliamentary elections would be important both for Serbia's economic and social development and for the EU.