BELGRADE (AFP) -- Former Yugoslav federation allies Serbia and Montenegro vowed Monday to develop closer ties seven months after relations soured when the latter recognized Kosovo's independence.

“We should be the two closest countries in the international community,” Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic told reporters in Belgrade after meeting with his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic.
Vujanovic's three-day visit is the first official trip to Belgrade by a senior Montenegrin leader since Podgorica broke away from a loose federation with Serbia in 2006 following a historic independence referendum.
Belgrade reluctantly accepted the decision to split, but was infuriated and expelled Montenegro's ambassador after Podgorica recognized the independence of Serbia's ethnic Albanian-majority province of Kosovo.
However President Tadic called for an end to the row between the two states, which stood together during the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia and share strong cultural, historic and religious bonds.
“I think we have an opportunity now to do all to ensure Serbo-Montenegrin relations are at the highest possible level,” Tadic told reporters at a joint press conference with Vujanovic.
Belgrade says it is now prepared to allow Montenegro's ambassador to return to the Serbian capital.
Since it unilaterally proclaimed independence in February 2008, Kosovo has been recognized by 58 countries, including the United States and most European Union nations.