The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, began his official visit to Slovakia with a meeting with the head of Slovak diplomacy, Ivan Korčok.

After the meeting with his Slovak counterpart, Minister Selaković, the first head of Serbian diplomacy to pay an official visit to Slovakia after more than ten years, thanked Slovakia for its great and selfless support for Serbia's European path and its territorial integrity and sovereignty regarding the issue of Kosovo and Metohija.

Minister Selaković emphasized that Slovakia's support for our European path is extremely important for us and that Slovakia is one of our strongest supporters on our path to European integration.

"I am convinced that after the positive report of the EC on progress, the concrete reforms that Serbia has implemented in the previous period will be rewarded and valorized by opening new negotiating clusters on our path to European integration", said the head of Serbian diplomacy. Minister Selaković thanked fraternal Slovakia for its support for the issue that is of vital importance to us, and that is the issue of Kosovo and Metohija.

"I am convinced that Slovakia does not maintain its position easily, because it is exposed to pressures", the head of Serbian diplomacy added.

He conveyed that he had talked with his Slovak colleague and that he would continue to discuss the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in terms of normalization of relations, appreciating the role of Slovak diplomat, Miroslav Lajčák, as an EU representative.

"In the negotiation process, Belgrade is the participant which, rest assured, is committed to dialogue as the only way to resolve the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, we refrain from responding to provocations and from undertaking any kind of unilateral acts, and we are committed to implementing the agreements reached in the ten-year-long process of negotiations", said Minister Selaković.

According to him, at the meeting with his Slovak colleague, he also discussed Serbia's commitment to spreading a positive agenda and regional cooperation.

"The 'Open Balkans' initiative of President Aleksandar Vučić, recognized by the prime ministers of Albania and Northern Macedonia, is something that has received serious support from both Minister Korčok and the Visegrad Four. I thanked for that and pointed out that Belgrade will continue to pursue such a regional policy which, by expanding economic cooperation, is aimed at resolving open political issues as well", said Minister Selaković.

The head of Serbian diplomacy said that economic cooperation between the two business communities and the two countries was also discussed at the meeting, and stressed that the level of our trade and economic exchange in the first eight months of 2021 shows serious signs of recovery of our two economies after the first year of the pandemic.

"In the first eight months, Serbian exports to Slovakia increased by 43.9 percent, and Slovak exports to Serbia by as much as 50.9 percent. By the end of September, we will already exceed the level of economic and trade exchange that we had in the 12 months of 2020", said Minister Selaković.

The head of Serbian diplomacy said that all possibilities for further development of our economic relations would be considered at the upcoming meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Economic Cooperation.

Minister Selaković thanked Slovakia for the help it provided to the citizens of Serbia at the beginning of the corona virus pandemic.

According to him, the traditional closeness of Serbia and Slovakia, linguistic and cultural closeness, are just some of the advantages for the development of our relations in the future. Selaković emphasized that one very strong and important link in the relations between Serbia and Slovakia is the Slovak national minority community.

He added that they should work together to protect the naive painting of Kovacica as a common wealth of the Slovak people and the state of Serbia.

Minister Korčok assessed that the bilateral relations between Serbia and Slovakia are very good, that the two countries are developing economic cooperation and that they are achieving success in that.

"As for Serbia's ambitions towards European integration, Serbia has a strong supporter in Slovakia", said the Slovak minister.

He stated that in the next year we can expect an improvement in the direction of opening and closing clusters in the membership negotiations.

Regarding the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Minister Korčok emphasized that Slovakia expects the implementation of everything that has been agreed so far.

28 October 2021