Germany has said it expects to reach an agreement between UN Security Council members on the future status of Kosovo.

"I think it is a positive sign what we hear from London that they are moving towards drafting a common resolution for the UN Security Council," said Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung.

The German minister said it was of the "utmost importance" to settle Kosovo's status through the Security Council to help the future development of the province and the Balkans.

"We should undertake all efforts to come to a joint resolution by the UN Security Council," he told reporters.

"The resolution is now being prepared and the idea is to discuss it in May."

Jung remarks followed a meeting of diplomats from the so-called Contact Group, consisting of US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia in London on Thursday.

The UN Security Council is expected to hold a crucial session on Kosovo this month, when it will consider a plan prepared by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

Ahtisaari's proposal is expected to become the basis of a UN resolution that could pave the way to the province's eventual independence.

The UN Security Council has the final say over Kosovo's fate but is reportedly divided over the issue.

The plan has the support of the US and key European Union states including Germany, but Russia has implied it could use its veto power in the Council if Serbia's interests are not addressed.

US and European Union officials have warned delaying a resolution on Kosovo's status could trigger another round of inter-ethnic violence between majority Albanians and the minority Serb population.

Franz Josef Jung came to Kosovo to visit some 3,000 German soldiers deployed in the province as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

The forces have been stationed there since 1999, when the province was placed under UN rule following a NATO air war that effectively put to an end the Serbian crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

HRF/MR/HSH