Serbia doesn't have to recognise Kosovo for EU bid

"The United States does not, I emphasise, does not expect Serbia to recognise the independence of Kosovo," Biden told a joint Belgrade media conference with Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic.

"It is not a precondition for our relationship or our support for Serbia becoming part of the European Union," he said in a prepared speech.

"We can agree to disagree provided that we have reasonable expectations for one another," he said of a dispute between the two sides over Washington's support for Kosovo's split last year from Serbia.

Biden, the most senior US official to visit Serbia since Jimmy Carter came to the ex-Yugoslav republic as president in 1980, said the Obama administration wanted to repair ties with Belgrade.

The US vice president voiced strong support for Serbia's hopes of joining the 27-member EU bloc, so far held up by the country's failure to capture the last two remaining war crimes fugitives including Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic.