VIENNA (AFP) -- Albanians from Kosovo and Serbs made "some progress" Friday in talks about local issues affecting the province, while wide differences remain between the two sides about the province's future status, a UN mediator said.

"The meeting was extremely positive, was issue-oriented, there were no polemics," Albert Rohan, the UN official who led the negotiations in Vienna, told journalists.

"Of course, there are profound differences," he added.

One of the issues resolved was the right of minority Serb towns in Kosovo to receive subsidies from Belgrade.

The key issue of the future status of the province, which has been administered by the United Nations since the 1999 NATO bombing that stopped a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian rebels, will be addressed "in a few months", Rohan said.

Some of the issues that must be resolved first include the protection of Orthodox religious sites, human rights, the apportionment of debt and the necessity of a long-term international presence in the province, he said.

The majority ethnic Albanians of Kosovo are in favor of independence from Belgrade, which is opposed by the Serbs who want to remain part of Serbia.

The Serbs did issue a formal protest about the choice of Hashim Thaci, the main leader of the Kosovar opposition, to head the delegation from Pristina.

Thaci is a former KLA Albanian rebel leader who is accused of war crimes by Belgrade.

Earlier this month Serbia was also angered over the choice of another Albanian ex-guerrilla, Agim Ceku, as the province's prime minister.

The two sides will next meet on April 3 in Vienna.