First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met yesterday in Ottawa Speakers of both houses of the Parliament of Canada, the Speaker of the Senate, Hon. George Furey and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Hon. Geoff Regan.
Minister Dacic confirmed the readiness to promote relations with Canada and especially the political dialogue at high level, and therefore invited them to visit Serbia.
The meeting was an opportunity to openly discuss the Serbian-Canadian relations, as well as a number of issues such as Canada’s support to Serbia’s European integration, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the situation in the Western Balkans and the relations with NATO.
New membership of the Serbia – Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group, comprising 16 Senators and MPs and constituting the Serbian Caucus in Canada, will be inaugurated today in the Canadian Parliament.
Finalization of an Air Transport Agreement and the start of visa liberalization will be the key issues in the year marking 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
During his visit to Canada, the Serbian Foreign Minister also met with Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum, and on that occasion they formally commenced talks on a political level between the two parties on the launching of visa liberalization as well as on the lifting of restrictions against members of the administration of the former FRY.
It was concluded that these were issues implying multiple jurisdictions – foreign affairs, internal affairs and immigration and therefore meetings of the competent expert teams were necessary. The Serbian party confirmed its readiness to include, in the period ahead, the parliamentary group of friendship that existed in both Serbian and Canadian Parliaments in providing political support.