Djuric meets with Israeli ambassador

BELGRADE - At a courtesy meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Belgrade Yahel Vilan, Serbian FM Marko Djuric conveyed Serbia's commitment to continue to advance its long-standing relations with Israel, the Serbian MFA said in a statement.

Thanking Vilan for Israel's position on a Srebrenica resolution adopted in the UN General Assembly last week, Djuric said the Serbs and the Jews had been connected by truly close ties throughout history.

With a view to strengthening mutual understanding and jointly reviewing opportunities for development of cooperation in areas of mutual interest, Serbia stands ready to work on maintaining the dynamics of bilateral political dialogue at all levels, Djuric said.

In addition to his comment on the political aspect of the relations with Israel, Djuric highlighted the economy as an extremely promising field that has been seeing an upward trend for years thanks to steady growth of bilateral trade and a significant presence of Israeli investors in Serbia.

Voicing concern over the current situation in the Middle East, Djuric said he hoped the conflict in that part of the world would come to an end as soon as possible, and reiterated the position of Serbia, which, in a joint statement with 16 other signatory states, has appealed for a soonest possible release of hostages and their safe return to their families, the statement also said.