Talks on Kosovo's status likely to begin, Annan says

New York (dpa) - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday he would likely recommend the start of talks on the status of Kosovo, a Serbian province dominated by ethnic Albanians.

''I am likely to indicate that we proceed with status talks,'' Annan told reporters after receiving a report on conditions in Kosovo written by a special U.N. envoy, Norwegian Kai Eide.

Annan said he was studying the report and would make his recommendations to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council for discussion on October 24.

Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since a NATO intervention against Yugoslavia drove out Belgrade's security forces in 1999. If status negotiations are successful, the U.N. mission would end its six-year presence there.

Since 1999 the United Nations has helped Kosovo build a bureaucracy with functioning ministries, courts, customs services and a police force trained by several European countries - all at the cost of about 1.3 billion dollars a year.

Eide's report focuses on recent progress made on implementing so-called democratic standards to foster trust between Serbs and Albanians, as well as on efforts to build democratic and legal institutions, enforce minority rights, and create a functioning economy.

Serbia opposes the creation of an independent Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian leaders have made secession demands. dpa tn vo