The first part of the talks, which will start on Monday, focuses on decentralisation of this UN-administered province, and the delegation from Pristina is led by Local Self-Government Minister Lufti Haziri.
The Kosovans do not expect any concrete agreement for the time being but believe the start of the negotiations in Vienna is an opportunity for their delegation to present its platform on decentralisation.
According to the Pristina media, the proposal which the Kosovo delegation will present has some similarities with the Ohrid peace plan which regulated the decentralisation of authorities in neighbouring Macedonia and the relations between Macedonians and Macedonian Albanians.
The media added that the international community had assessed the Ohrid deal as very successful.
Members of the Kosovo delegation have been quoted as saying that Belgrade is proposing solutions similar to the Dayton peace accords which stopped the war in Bosnia, but which offered not so good solutions for functioning of state authorities in peacetime.
The Belgrade-based Beta agency has quoted an internal assessment made by European Union officials which reads that Kosovo's decentralisation must have elements of economic sustainability and prospect of further integration with the EU. In this sense, a model like the Ohrid agreement would be better contrary to the an expensive and complicated Bosnian model of a country with two entities.
The same agency added that according to the internal EU analysis, Kosovo Serbs have legitimate interests in preserving privileged relations with Serbia, but Belgrade's proposal about a Serb entity in Kosovo would set up a network of Serb enclaves with poor links with Pristina and stronger contacts with Belgrade, which would consequently lead to Serbia's territorial extension and undermining of activities taken by Kosovo authorities.
According to Kosovo's proposal, the judiciary should be united and independent and the police should have a joint command structure.
Serbia is for the establishment of ethnic police units and for the appointment of judges by local units of authority.
The Vienna meeting will be the first direct talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials since the end of the war in that province in June 1999 and the arrival of international peace keepers.