Gala gathering like UN General Assembly, says Serbian minister

The record turnout of heads of state at the Olympics opening ceremony provided an excellent platform for world leaders to conduct diplomacy, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said.

Mr Jeremic, who also said the Beijing Games stood to be regarded as the best Olympics ever, was among a large number of international VIPs invited to Friday's ceremony. Eighty-six heads of state and monarchs attended, including US President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The get-together of so many world leaders gave them the chance to discuss issues of common concern in a less serious and rigid atmosphere, Mr Jeremic said in Hong Kong, where he made a brief stopover before returning to Belgrade. 'It totally reminds me of the General Assembly of the United Nations,' he said.

Serbia used the occasion to lobby other countries to support its decision to take the Kosovo issue to the International Court of Justice.

'We did take the opportunity to talk to a lot of people [on the Kosovo issue],' he said. 'But we were not the only ones to do that. I saw people in all corners talking to each other and discussing issues they are interested in. I saw President Bush and [Russian] Prime Minister [Vladimir] Putin talking about South Ossetia, and I saw the Pakistani prime minister [Yousaf Raza Gilani] explaining to neighbouring countries about the situation in Pakistan.

'Our president [Boris Tadic] felt honoured to have a full bilateral meeting with President Hu [Jintao ]. The Chinese government has been very firm [over the Kosovo issue] and gave us support. It was a successful visit.' The gathering of world leaders and international dignitaries was the largest in the nation's history. Apart from the heads of state and government, more than 12,000 international business leaders and executives of multinationals were invited.