Kosovo's southern neighbor, Macedonia, has a significant ethnic Albanian population, Nicholas Burns, US under secretary of state for political affairs, said in a news conference in Washington November 8, Bureau of IIP, US Department of State reports.

Burns said that Macedonia "actually is a very positive symbol for the Kosovars because it's a multiethnic country."

The United States and Europe agree that final-status talks for Kosovo cannot lead to partitioning the province into separate ethnic enclaves or redrawing international boundaries with neighboring Albania or Macedonia.

The European Commission recommended Wednesday that the status of a candidate country for EU membership should be granted to Macedonia. In its opinion the EC says that only four years ago Macedonia was on the brink of a civil war, and today thanks to the Ohrid Framework Agreement it is an example of successful multi-ethnic co-existence.