French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was expected to urge EU hopeful Serbia to solve its dispute with Kosovo and other neighbours, after he arrived here Sunday for a 24-hour visit.

On Monday, Kouchner is to meet Serbian President Boris Tadic, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Bozidar Djelic, deputy prime minister in charge of European integration.

He was also to pay tribute to Serbia's first democratically elected prime minister Zoran Djindjic, assassinated in 2003, visiting his grave in Belgrade's central cemetery.

Speaking to journalists travelling with him, Kouchner said France "is in favor of Serbia's integration (into the EU) and a positive development of relations between Serbia and Kosovo".

Belgrade should "not make things more complicated then they are," Kouchner said in a clear reference to an ongoing stalemate between Serbia and mainly ethnic Albanian Kosovo which declared independence from Belgrade two years ago.

"I am a friend of both," Kouchner said.

Serbia has challenged the legality of Kosovo's independence before the International Court of Justice and called on other states to postpone recognition or establishing diplomatic relations until a ruling by the UN's highest court, expected in the coming months.

Kouchner's visit is a sign of "France's commitment to the development of the whole region and to the improvement of relations between Belgrade and Pristina", his spokesman, Bernard Valero, said ahead of the trip.

Serbia officially applied for EU membership in December, while Kosovo has also announced its aim to join the 27-nation bloc.

Following talks in Belgrade, Kouchner will travel to Kosovo, where he was the UN's top administrator after the United Nations took control of the then Serbian province following a NATO air campaign in 1999.

In an interview with the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti on Sunday, Kouchner said "Kosovo's independence is irreversible".