Djuric: Italy key partner to Serbia, region, in economic development, preservation of peace

ROME - Serbian FM Marko Djuric, who is on an official visit to Italy, said on Tuesday evening Italy was a key partner to Serbia and the region in terms of economic development as well as preservation of stability and peace.

Djuric said he had conveyed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's greetings to Italian FM Antonio Tajani and thanked his counterpart for supporting the development of bilateral economic cooperation.

He said he had informed Tajani that as many as two major production plants of Italian companies had been opened in Serbia in the past 24 hours and that they would help the Serbian and Italian economies to develop further and become more competitive in third-country markets.

"I think that this kind of economic axis between the Balkans and Italy is key to consolidation and the process of political stabilisation, as well as to connecting the entire region with European trends," Djuric said in a statement released by the Serbian MFA.

He thanked Italy for its extremely significant and strong support for Serbia's EU path and noted that he expected Serbia to become fully prepared for EU membership, institutionally and in terms of reforms, by 2027.

He said he looked forward to a joint session of the Serbian and Italian governments that was due by the end of the year, and noted that three major Serbia-Italy business forums had already been held this year.

"We are very glad the trend will be continued. This year we also mark 145 years of our diplomatic relations, which is an extremely important anniversary, as well as 15 years of the strategic partnership between Serbia and Italy," he noted.

He noted Italy had been the first country in Europe with which Serbia had signed an agreement on strategic partnership, and thanked Italian friends for their decades-long work on preservation of peace in our region and protection of the Visoki Decani monastery and Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo-Metohija.

Djuric said Italy, its people and its government could firmly count on Serbia's support when it comes to preventing illegal migration via the so-called Balkan route.

Djuric also met with the Speaker of the Italian House of Representatives Lorenzo Fontana and members of the Italy-Serbia friendship group in the Italian parliament.