(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JANUARY 20 - Nato's Kosovo Force (KFOR) commander, Italian general Michele Risi, met today the Italian ambassador to Pristina, Nicola Orlando. Risi presented an update on the Kfor mission and the situation in Kosovo in terms of security, as well as politics, society, and economy. Ambassador Orlando, who met the Italian military on duty in Pristina, underlined for his part - reads a press release issued by the Kfor - "the essential role of the Kfor mission and the Italian contingent to guarantee a safe environment and freedom movement for all citizens of Kosovo, not to mention the support of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina which the European Union considers as the only lasting political solution." The mission in Kosovo, which began in 1999 under a mandate from the United Nations and to date the longest of the Atlantic Alliance, currently counts on 3,500 soldiers from 27 nations and is commanded by an Italian general for the seventh year in a row. (ANSA).