DOHA, Qatar, Jul 3 2012 (Al Jazeera) - Kosovo will finally gain full soverignty in September, almost four years after breaking away from Serbia, the International Steering Group (ISG) overseeing its independence has announced.

“The international supervision ends as of today,” said Michael Spindelegger, Austrian foreign minister, who hosted the event in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

In January, the 25-nation ISG, which includes several EU states besides Austria as well as Turkey and the U.S., had announced that the Balkan territory had made such progress that “supervised independence” could be lifted by the end of the year.

The ISG congratulated Kosovo for fulfilling the conditions required by the so-called Comprehensive Settlement Proposal (CSP), “including (passing) laws on cultural and religious heritage, community rights and decentralisation.”

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