Kosovo President Hashim Thaci rejected the possibility of a partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines but spoke out in favour of what he called a correction of the border with Serbia.

Thaci told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that “a redrawing of the border to bring parts of Serbia with a majority Albanian population into Kosovo could end tensions between Belgrade and Pristina and allow both nations to move towards EU membership”.

The Kosovo president rejected any partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines saying that the correction to the borders would “definitely avoid Kosovo’s partition, a swapping of territories, more crises or problems or even possibly a new war”.

Thaci said that he would present his plan to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at their next meeting in Brussels in September.

“Definitely now is the moment to correct the border between Kosovo and Serbia, which is around 400 kilometres long. This would help avoid inter-ethnic problems and the creating of any sort of autonomous region such as the Republika Srpska entity (in Bosnia),” he said.

Reuters said that Thaci did not specify what Serbia might receive in return for giving up those parts of its territory which are home to a large ethnic Albanian population. He expressed confidence in Western support for any agreement which he and Vucic might sign, adding that he believes that they could reach an agreement by February 2019.

“If the parties agree in the process of the (European Union-sponsored) dialogue and they reach an agreement, the EU and the United States will support any deal on border correction,” Thaci said.

“We are following a peaceful process and this will avoid problems, avoid crises and will open an EU perspective for both countries,” Thaci said.