Biden in the Balkans

Biden continues his landmark tour of the Balkans when he visits Belgrade Wednesday, May 20, hoping to mend ties with Serbia which were badly damaged over Washington's support for Kosovo independence.

Biden is the highest level US official to visit Serbia since Jimmy Carter in 1980. During his visit he is to hold talks with President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac.

The vice president's visit aims to assert US leadership in the region, which - after having played a massive role in the previous decade - Washington has largely neglected while focusing on the Middle East.

Biden's tour covers the three most volatile countries in the region, with the vice president going on to Kosovo after Belgrade. In all three, US warplanes bombed Serbs during the wars of the 1990s. While acknowledging differences, Biden said in Sarajevo he would seek to open a new chapter of American and Serbian relations.

"The US wants to build a new healthy relationship with Serbia," Biden said Tuesday in an address to Bosnian lawmakers in Sarajevo. "We want to see Serbia take its rightful place in Europe as a strong, successful democratic state playing a constructive role in the region.

"Serbia and the US disagree on Kosovo.... We do not expect Serbia any time soon to recognize Kosovo, but we do expect Belgrade to cooperate with the EU and other key international actors on Kosovo."

Biden urges nations to look forward, not back

While hoping to extend Washington's open hand to Belgrade, Biden will also have strong words for the Serbs as he is expected to warn Serbia not to encourage separatism among its compatriots in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Biden met with Bosnian leaders in Sarajevo Tuesday and delivered a similar message, warning them that ethnic divisions could lead the country back into war rather than towards European integration and NATO membership.

He expressed concern over the resurging nationalism in the country which already went through a devastating war fought along ethnic lines between its main communities - Muslim, Serb and Croat.

The war ended with a US-brokered peace agreement 14 years ago.

"This must stop. The only future is to join Europe," Biden said. "You can follow this path to Europe or you can take an alternative path - you've done it before." He said Bosnia's alternatives are "the future of integration" or "falling back" to the past.

Biden pledged US assistance in the nation's effort to move forward. "The door is open for this region, for the first time in history, to be an integral part of a free Europe. The US will help you through that door," he said.

VP reiterates Washington's support for Kosovo

Ahead of his visit to Kosovo, Biden, considered a strong backer of the breakaway country's independence, told Bosnia's central parliament that the administration of President Barack Obama would maintain US support for Kosovo.

"This independence, while young, is irreversible, and critically important to this region's stability and progress," he said.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17, 2008.

Among the 60 countries that recognize Kosovo are the United States and most of the European Union. Serbia is backed by Russia in its rejection of the move, which it is challenging before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.