Serbia, Montenegro pledge close ties after split

PODGORICA, Serbia-Montenegro, May 27 (Reuters) Serbian President Boris Tadic and his Montenegrin counterpart Filip Vujanovic said today the two republics should have the ''best possible relations'' as separate states.

Montenegrins opted to end the union with Serbia in a May 21 referendum. Official preliminary results showed 55.5 per cent voted Yes to independence, surpassing the 55 per cent minimum required by the European Union for the vote to succeed.

Tadic, the first Serbian official to visit the Adriatic coast republic after the vote, said if the referendum results were confirmed the two republics would continue to have close ties.

''Serbia is a democratic country ... we may have different positions but we respect democratic principles,'' said Tadic, who acknowledged he had been in favour of staying together but would recognise the will of Montenegro's citizens.

His Montenegrin counterpart agreed.

''No two other states on the planet should be more open and friendly towards each other than Serbia and Montenegro,'' Vujanovic said.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has not yet accepted the referendum result but has said he would do so as soon as the figures are final.

Serbia and Montenegro have been together in one form or another since 1918. The ''state union'' they formed in 2003 replaced what was left of Yugoslavia, linking Montenegro's 650,000 people with Serbia's 7.5 million in a loose framework, sharing foreign affairs and defence but with different currencies, laws and customs regulations.

The EU has welcomed the referendum and said it will acknowledge its results if officially confirmed.

Montenegro's mostly ethnic Serb anti-independence bloc has, however, challenged the result in nearly 190 of 1,120 polling stations. The referendum commission, which is examining the complaints over the weekend has so failed to uphold any of them.

A statement issued after Tadic's meeting with outgoing Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic said that as soon as final results were published the two states should start formally transferring the powers of the union to the two republics.

REUTERS CH RAI2027