The Council of Ministers, which convened in Luxembourg, obligated the Commission to prepare a platform for negotiations which could be opened in the autumn.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who is the current chairman of the ministerial council, said Serbia-Montenegro had made considerable progress in cooperation with the Hague-based UN tribunal.
Several hours before the council made the relevant decision, Serbian General Nebojsa Pavkovic, accused of war crimes in Kosovo, arrived in The Hague and was placed in the tribunal's detention centre in Scheveningen.
The council voices satisfaction with this progress and encourages the state union of Serbia-Montenegro to continue along this path, Asselborn said.
Top Serbian officials on Monday afternoon hailed the ministerial council's decision.