Dacic receives Central African Republic's Baipo-Temon

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic received the FM of the Central African Republic (CAR) Sylvie Baipo-Temon on Tuesday to discuss bilateral cooperation.

"I would like to say I am very pleased with her visit here, which is not her bilateral visit, but one that is a part of a presidential visit, which is a historic thing for Serbia. The president of the Central African Republic has accepted an invitation from President Aleksandar Vucic to visit Belgrade and Serbia and, practically, he will come for a visit tomorrow, and it will last for two or three days," Dacic said at a press conference with Baipo-Temon.

He said renewing friendships with traditional friends in Africa was important and that Serbia and the CAR would next year mark the 65th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

He said that Serbia had not devoted sufficient attention to traditional friends after the 1990s and that many of its embassies - including in the CAR - had been shut down.

"They had no contact with Serbia, they were unfamiliar with the details of the breakup of Yugoslavia, national problems, the position of the Serbs, the Kosovo-Metohija issue," Dacic said, adding that, on the other hand, Pristina had sent its representatives everywhere.

Dacic noted that the so-called Kosovo claimed it had been recognised by the CAR in 2011.

"I visited the CAR in March 2018 and I spoke with the president. We were interested in the CAR's position on the Kosovo issue... ...He (the president) told me they had no papers about that (a recognition of the so-called Kosovo). That is why, to avoid a debate on whether it recognised it or not, the CAR adopted in July 2019 a note recognising the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia," he said.

Dacic noted that the CAR was interested in cooperation in several sectors including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, defence and security.

He also said Serbian UN peacekeepers - one military and one medical contingent - were deployed to the CAR.

Baipo-Temon said her president would meet with Vucic in Belgrade on Thursday, February 29.

She said the meeting with Dacic had addressed topics of mutual interest and noted that her country had a long history of friendship with Serbia that was also marked by friendship between former heads of state.

She said the CAR stood by the principle of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia because it, too, faced the same problems.

Baipo-Temon said the visit to Belgrade was very important for bilateral relations and that the CAR wanted to bolster the cooperation with Serbia.