Kosovo's top officials welcomed on Friday a draft proposal by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari on the future status of Kosovo, which opens the way to the province's eventual independence.

"(The document of) Ahtisaari made Kosovo's future very clear and opens the way to Kosovo's independence. The way in which Ahtisaari describes Kosovo, is as a sovereign and independent state," Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku told a news conference at the end of the meeting between the Kosovo negotiating team and Ahtisaari in Kosovo's capital Pristina.

"Nevertheless, this document does not fulfill all our expectations and requests, it does not contain everything that belongs to us and that we have asked for," said Ceku, a former guerrilla leader in the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said that "Kosovo will be sovereign, just like all other states."

Kosovo has been run by the UN mission since 1999 when NATO bombings forced the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces. He was accused of killing 10,000 ethnic Albanians during a counter-insurgency war. The province of two million is cherished by Serbia for its cultural and religious heritage.

The Kosovo's negotiating team, which is made of top officials, said in a statement that "final stage of resolution of Kosovo's status has started."

"The state of Kosovo within the existing borders, with functional authorities, with the rights and guarantees for all citizens and ethnic communities which live in Kosovo represents the only stable solution for the status of Kosovo," the statement said.

Ahtisaari said after meeting with the Pristina team that the key of the proposal was to create a stable society which would contribute to the stability of the entire region.

Ahtisaari said he could not give the exact date when the UN Security Council would give its view on the proposal, which will be finalized by late March.

Ahtisaari met in Pristina with Kosovo Serb political representatives, Serbian Orthodox Church dignitaries and representatives of minority communities.

Earlier on Friday in Belgrade, Ahtisaari handed to Serbian President Boris Tadic his draft proposal for the future of Kosovo.

In a statement after his meeting with Ahtisaari, Tadic said that Ahtisaari's draft proposal for the status of Kosovo mentions neither independence nor sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia to its southern province, which opens possibilities for independence of Kosovo.

"Imposed independence of Kosovo would be contrary to the basic principles of international law and it would be an exceptionally dangerous political and legal precedent," Tadic said, adding that he, as the president of the Republic, would never accept independence of Kosovo.

Source: Xinhua