Vucic expects Meloni to visit Serbia by year-end

VERONA - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday he had thanked Italian PM Giorgia Meloni for the support and attention Italy was giving to Serbia and added that he expected Meloni to visit Serbia by the end of this year.

Speaking to reporters in Verona after a meeting with Meloni, Vucic said he and the PMs of North Macedonia and Albania, Dimitar Kovacevski and Edi Rama, had proposed ideas to the EU after seeing the amount of support received by other countries.

"We said how difficult the times ahead of us will be and we asked Meloni that they help us in Brussels, as well as additionally, bilaterally. I thanked Meloni, (FM Antonio) Tajani and the entire Italian government," Vucic said.

He said Italy was Serbia third-largest external trade partner behind Germany and China and that bilateral trade with Italy would be boosted further in the future, especially after the start of production of an electric city car at a Stellantis plant in Kragujevac, central Serbia.

"Italy remains one of the most important partners investing in our country also in the political sense," Vucic said, noting that Italy had appointed an envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, demonstrating a desire to get involved in processes in the Western Balkans.

Serbia has a true friend in Italy and its PM, Vucic said, adding that the relationship would be maintained and advanced further.

He said he was pleased to have had an opportunity to speak with other members of the Italian government, especially about agriculture, but noted that global affairs and the Ukraine war had been discussed as well.