Belgrade: The Japanese Ambassador to Serbia Tadashi Nagai yesterday called on Belgrade, which withdrew its ambassador from Tokyo after Japan recognized the Kosovo Albanians’ unilateral declaration of independence, to send back their ambassador to Japan.

At a press conference, Nagai said, “In these difficult times Serbia should have its ambassador in Tokyo and should not keep him in ‘consultations’ for so long.”

The Japanese Ambassador said he “understood Serbia’s need to express its protest against Japan’s decision to recognize Kosovo’s independence,” but that he believed that the ambassador should be in Japan, “working on overcoming of this problem”.

When he was asked why his country recognized the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo, Nagai said that “Japan assessed that Kosovo was ready to become a state and ready to meet all international obligations resulting from this status”.

Speaking on Japan’s relations with Serbia, “Japan wants to continue with traditionally good relations and it has no intention of ruining these friendly ties in any way.”

He said that they expect good business ties with Serbia. The Japanese investors were “waiting for the situation in Serbia to finally stabilize”.