BELGRADE (Agencies) -- Kosovo's two leading political parties on Saturday reached an agreement on forming a coalition that will rule the independence-seeking Serbian province, said reports reaching here from Kosovo, Xinhua reported.

""An agreement has been reached, the only thing left to do is to sign it,"" said Hajredin Kuqi, vice president of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which won Kosovo's parliamentary elections on Nov. 17.
Kuqi made the comment to local media after a meeting of the leaders of the two parties -- Prime Minister-elect Hashim Thaci of the PDK and Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
Under the agreement, the PDK will appoint a prime minister and run seven ministries, while the LDK will appoint a president of Kosovo, a deputy prime minister and five ministers. Three ministries will be allotted to the ethnic minorities.
Thaci said the Kosovo parliament would elect a speaker and a new government at a session due to take place on Jan. 9.
The new Kosovo parliament was constituted in the provincial capital Pristina on Friday, while the election of the parliament speaker and the new government was postponed to next week.
UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari said last week that he believed the status of the breakaway Serbian republic of Kosovo would be decided in the first quarter of 2008, AFP reported.
""I hope and believe the solution will come during the first quarter of the year,"" Ahtisaari said.
""What it will look like is another question.""
He told Reuters at a Finnish Defense Ministry reception that not much was happening on the Kosovo question at the moment because the United Nations Security Council could not agree on the issue.
Ahtisaari said he was not disappointed by the lack of progress in the Security Council. ""Nothing surprising has happened.""
Prolonged deadlock over the future of Serbia's Kosovo province could create instability in the region, put UN achievements at risk and threaten UN staff, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said also in a new report.
In his report, Ban said expectations were continuing to rise among the Albanians of Kosovo, which has been under UN administration since NATO bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999, that the province would soon be independent.
""The status quo is not likely to be sustainable,"" the UN chief said. ""Should the impasse continue, events on the ground could take on a momentum of their own, putting at serious risk the achievements and legacy of the United Nations in Kosovo.
""Moving forward with a process to determine Kosovo's future status should remain a high priority for the Security Council and for the international community.""
Kosovo's proclamation of independence is likely to be recognized by the United States and a number of European countries, but Serbia and its ally Russia said they would oppose any such move.