Brnabic, Sentop discuss Serbia-Turkey cooperation

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic met with the speaker of Turkey's Grand National Assembly Mustafa Sentop on Thursday to discuss Serbia-Turkey bilateral relations.

Brnabic said the cooperation between the two countries was at the highest level, in particular when it comes to the economy, infrastructure and tourism, and noted that Turkey was a very important partner for Serbia in those sectors, the Serbian government said in a statement.

She said Turkish companies were employing around 5,900 Serbian workers, in particular from rural regions, and stressed that the two countries had notable bilateral interests.

She said that, with mutual support and commitment, a Tutin-Novi Pazar road in southwestern Serbia had been completed and that cooperation on the most significant infrastructure project, a Belgrade-Sarajevo motorway, was continuing.

Brnabic thanked Sentop for Turkey's backing of the Open Balkan initiative as well as for its support for maintaining peace and stability in this part of Europe.

Sentop said the relations between the two countries were important for the entire region and that he was confident the good cooperation would be continued.

He noted that tourism was an important sector that needed to be advanced due to its large potential.

Sentop concluded that overall inter-parliamentary cooperation to date had been very good, friendly and continuous and that its steady dynamics had reflected a trend in general bilateral ties.