Dacic: Relations with Spain excellent, we will work on boosting economic ties

BELGRADE - Serbia-Spain relations are excellent, friendly and on an upward trajectory, and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez's visit to Belgrade and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's trip to Madrid last year have lent a new impetus to them, Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said after meeting with Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares in Belgrade on Thursday.

"We are grateful to Spain for the firm position that is greatly helpful to us in terms of the principles of maintaining sovereignty and integrity because, when we speak about Kosovo-Metohija, we do not only speak from the perspective of our own interest, but also from the perspective of respect of the universal principles of international law," Dacic said.

He noted that Spain's stance was extremely important to Serbia and added that Serbia, too, supported the integrity and sovereignty of Spain with regards to various separatist concepts and movements that were also attempting to achieve their objectives through unilateral acts.

"To us, it is also important to work on advancement of economic relations and our trade volume has reached almost 1.5 bln euros - we need to continue to develop and advance that cooperation further," Dacic said.

He said the Cervantes Institute, which has been operating in Serbia for nearly 20 years, was a positive example of cooperation.

"We look forward to Spain's EU presidency from July," Dacic said.

"We wish all success to Spain except when their sports teams are playing against ours," he added jokingly.

Albares said the discussion with Dacic had been friendly and that it had chiefly addressed bilateral ties, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and ways to bring the Western Balkans closer to the EU.

He added that the region could count on Spain during its EU presidency.

"I began my visit to the region with a visit to Serbia because it is an important partner to us, since our bilateral trade has exceeded 1 bln euros. We want our companies to be more present in Serbia," he said.

"In two months' time, we will be presiding over the EU and we are making a list of priorities, primarily when it comes to strengthening the economy and economic cooperation. I am talking to European colleagues about holding a ministerial meeting in the next semester so that we from the EU get to know the Western Balkans better and have good dialogue," Albares said.

He said he had also wanted to hear Serbia's position on Russia's attack on Ukraine.

He also said that, in a MoU signed with Serbia on Wednesday, Spain had pledged to back the country's European aspirations.