First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received a farewell call from Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Tran Than Tsong, covering Serbia on a non-resident basis.

Minister Dacic thanked ambassador Tsong for his personal contribution to the promotion of bilateral relations between Serbia and Vietnam, conveying his belief that the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries would continue to be promoted, in particular in the economic, educational and scientific and cultural cooperation. Minister Dacic took the opportunity to convey to the Vietnamese Ambassador his condolences following the death of Tran Dai Quang, until recently the President of Vietnam.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy said that he was pleased that there was a high level of understanding between Serbia and Vietnam regarding the issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, particularly thanking Vietnam for its support to the territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, underlining that the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo was a flagrant example of the violation of international law and of the territorial sovereignty of a UN Member State.

Both sides confirmed their readiness to further strengthen the dialogue and their belief that the positive trend of high-level visits between Serbia and Vietnam would continue.

• Share Post
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google +1
• Email

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received today Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Kosovo and Head of UNMIK Zahir Tanin, within the framework of the latter’s regular visits to Belgrade, ahead of the UN Security Council meeting devoted to the work of UNMIK.

The collocutors discussed the current, sensitive security and political situation in Kosovo and Metohija, in particular in the context of various provocative and unilateral moves made by Prishtina, which are contrary to the general atmosphere in which the dialogue is being conducted and which additionally heighten the tensions.

The parties also stressed the importance of the continued, unreduced presence of UNMIK with a view to creating the conditions for a normal and dignified life of the Serbs and the members of other non-Albanian communities in Kosovo, in line with UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999).

Minister Dacic underlined in this context that the preservation of the existing dynamic and format of UN Security Council sessions was particularly important to the Republic of Serbia, especially at the time of enormous efforts to find a compromise and sustainable solution through dialogue with Prishtina.

The collocutors also discussed the prospects of the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue and further engagement of UNMIK with the key areas of its mandate, e.g. the creation of conditions for a sustainable return of internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy conveyed particular gratitude to his collocutor for the efforts he had devoted to the discharge of the UNMIK’s mandate, expressing the expectation that the Mission would continue to operate in full capacity and in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1244.

• Share Post
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google +1
• Email

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic paid a visit to Vienna today where he met Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache.

“I would like to express great pleasure over my visit and talks with my colleague and friend Strache.

The relations between our two countries are on the continued ascending line. There is an exchange of visits on top level. Vice-Chancellor Strache visited Belgrade in February, the President of Austria completed his visit to Serbia yesterday and we are expecting the Chancellor’s visit. Next year we will mark 145th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations and we expect Foreign Minister Kneissl to pay a visit.

We wish our cooperation to be comprehensive and I voice pleasure at the development of our bilateral relations.

Austria is one of the most important trading partners of Serbia. There is around 1,000 companies owned by Austrian nationals or legal entities from the territory of Austria that employ several tens of thousands of workers in Serbia. Our commercial exchange amounted to almost a billion euro last year. We expect economic cooperation to further develop.

I would like to thank Austria for the support it offers concerning our European integration path. We are aware of the importance of the European integration process and of the harmonization of our system with EU standards and values in that regard, which is also significant for the reform of society as a whole.

Austria is one of the countries offering greatest support to Serbia on its path towards the EU. Also, I would like to thank Austria for taking the initiative, in its capacity as the current EU Presidency, for opening as many chapters as possible.

Signing of the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Academy for Public Administration of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Academy for Public Administration of the Republic of Austria, is a very important event on the agenda today.

There are no outstanding issues with Austria except for different interpretation of the issue of Kosovo. Serbia is interested in solving all regional outstanding issues. Serbia is advocating regional stability, peace and reconciliation. Solving of outstanding issues can be acceptable only if interests of all sides are respected.

We stand ready to make understandings and to conduct dialogue with Pristina. We expect EU, facilitating the dialogue, to put additional pressure to implement what has already been agreed upon and signed 5 years ago. Recently, it was 2,000 days since the Community of Serbian Municipalities was not established. We deem this issue to be a very important one as this was the condition on the basis of which we have signed the Brussels Agreement. It is clear that this issue cannot be resolved without respecting mutual interests but also without respecting individual interests both of the Serbian and Albanian peoples.

We wish to play an active role but without readiness to find a compromise and without respect for the interest of the Serbian people living in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia will not give in to a pressure of solving the Kosovo status issue on the basis of unilateral acts passed by Pristina in the previous period.

We ask all our friends to keep in mind this position of Serbia and to give a chance to dialogue and reaching of a peaceful, compromise solution.

Pristina keeps on making unilateral acts such as yesterday’s decision to start transformation, i.e. formation of the army of Kosovo. This is in contravention of all resolutions of international organizations such as the UNSC Resolution 1244.
We hold the view that prior to reaching agreement these issues need to be on the agenda.

The position of Austria is very important as regards issues of Interpol, UNESCO and other international organizations Kosovo is trying to obtain the membership of and use it for the promotion of its statehood.

I am very satisfied with the talks I had with Mr. Strache. The visit was another step forward towards further promotion of our friendly relations”, the Head of Serbian Diplomacy said at a joint press conference following the meeting.

• Share Post
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google +1
• Email

State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nemanja Stevanovic has received today the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland, Mr. Matti Anttonen.

In the friendly talks, the two collocutors assessed that the bilateral relations were exceptionally good and expressed interest and readiness to further strengthen them and to intensify political dialogue on all levels.

The two sides also put forward proposals for the promotion of economic cooperation as well as for the ways of attracting potential Finnish investors to Serbia.

State Secretary Stevanovic thanked his counterpart for the principled support of Finland to Serbia’s EU integration path, as well as for the expertise and technical support extended in the process of state administration reform.

State Secretary Anttonen welcomed the efforts made by Serbia towards its EU membership and said that Serbia could count on Finnish support to Serbia’s European integration process in the future as well.

• Share Post
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google +1
• Email