Vucic: We had open discussion about numerous issues, regional problems

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday he had had a long, open and civilised discussion with Montenegrin counterpart Jakov Milatovic about many issues and that they had disagreed on some of them but agreed on many others.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, Vucic said they had discussed geopolitical and regional problems.

"I want to believe it is possible for us to discuss something that will mean we will gradually achieve better relations, even though it will be difficult and although we will take two steps forward and one back. I know there are some people in Montenegro who are trying to heighten fears of Serbia and show Serbia is the one that wants something from Montenegro. If you want to take part in something, okay, if you do not want to take part in something, then do not - we will not be asking you to do so if you do not want to, and I am pleased we had had an open discussion on many issues in a civilised way that needs to build the relationship between the two countries," Vucic said.

He noted that the volume of bilateral trade with Montenegro was up by 16.1 pct y-o-y.

"For countries of our size, it is a really high figure and we expect a record-high 1.6 bln (euro trade volume) by the end of the year. Those are major steps forward that bring life to a relationship and we are proud of that," Vucic said.

He noted that they had also discussed infrastructure issues and road construction to enable shorter travel times between the two countries.

"We discussed the construction of a rail line for further connections in terms of energy. They have announced they want an LNG terminal in Bar. We are interested in buying that (natural gas) and we can immediately lay down steel pipes for a measuring station to get around 12.7 cubic metres a day there, which would boost Serbia's gas supplies," Vucic noted.