Serbian PM to Meet Biden on Visit to US

Serbia on Monday said that Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will visit the US this week to meet, among others, Vice-President Joe Biden and John Kerry, Secretary of State.

Vucic will also meet Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, and Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World Bank.

The economy, EU integration and talks with the former province of Kosovo will likely be the main topics of discussion.

Aleksandra Joksimovic, director of the Centre for Foreign Policy in Belgrade, told BIRN that the visit will have a positive impact on Serbia's EU path and on the dialogue with Kosovo.

"This will be a chance for Serbia to gain a better position in the negotiations with Kosovo. The economy will also be one of the main topics there," Joksimovic told BIRN.

"The refugee crisis in Europe will also be high on the agenda," Joksimovic added.

She said that the Bytyqi case and attack on the US embassy in Belgrade would be among the less comfortable topics for Serbia's Prime Minister.

American-Albanian brothers Ylli, Agron and Mehmet Bytyqi were killed 16 years ago at a police centre in Petrovo Selo, after the war in Kosovo.

Nine people were given suspended sentences on September 9, ranging from five to ten months for setting fire to the US embassy in Belgrade during riots sparked by Kosovo's independence declaration in 2008.

Vladimir Goati, a Belgrade-based analyst, said that Serbia had made a lot of progress in its relations with US.

"Vucic is one of the people who helped this process... the US is important for all the world's processes and those in the EU, even though they are not a member of it," Goati told BIRN.

He also said that Vucic would discuss Serbia's close relations with Russia during his visit to...