BELGRADE, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic hailed the UN General Assembly's decision on Wednesday to ask the top world court to rule whether Kosovo's secession from Serbia conforms to international law.

'By voting for the resolution, the majority of countries have shown that this is the case which deserves to be discussed before the International Court of Justice,' Cvetkovic said in a statement.

The vote in the 192-member assembly on a Serbian resolution seeking support for the referral was 77 in favor, 74 abstentions and six against.

The ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations which is based in The Hague, rules on disputes between sovereign states.

'We are very satisfied that our efforts have proved not to have been in vain, but accepted by the international community as legitimate and logical,' Cvetkovic said.

However, he warned that countries aiming to recognise Kosovo in future would have to take into a consideration ICJ's future engagement in the disputed issue.

'That can be understood as denying the importance of the role that ICJ has in this case,' Cvetkovic said, in a clear reference to Serbia's neighbours Montenegro and Macedonia who have reportedly considering such decision in coming days.

Some 48 countries, including 22 EU members and the United States, have so far recognized Kosovo's unilateral secession from Belgrade on February 17.

But Serbia still considers Kosovo one of its provinces and Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, has strongly backed its ally Belgrade in the dispute.

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 when it was wrested from Belgrade's control in a NATO air war.