24 September 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, has met in New York today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics.

The Ministers exchanged experience of the two countries in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to bring economy back to normal course as soon as possible.

Selaković stated that the cooperation of our countries was good and that there was a mutual interest of Serbia and Latvia to intensify economic relations, which at this point were at the level below objective potentials of two economies.

Minister Selaković informed his interlocutor on reform processes in Serbia as well as economic results in the previous period of seven years, emphasizing that our country had achieved great progress in the field of the rule of law, which we expected would be recognized and valorized.

The Serbian Foreign Minister said that he expected Latvia to have an objective attitude when it came to the valuation of reform processes in Serbia and that it would provide support to Serbia in the realization of the key strategic goal, that is, full EU membership.

Mentioning the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, Selaković said that, apart from the difference in their stances, he hoped that Latvia, as the country which is a consistent fighter for the rule of law and stability in Europe, would support the process of seeking peaceful and compromised solution in the dialog of Belgrade and Priština.

Selaković informed the interlocutor about the latest attempts of Priština to destabilize the situation in the field as well as with the fact that the current government of temporary self-government institutions publicly refuses to implement reached agreements in the Brussels dialog with the mediation of the EU.

The interlocutors discussed also the cooperation in multilateral organizations and agreed that political consultations of the ministries of foreign affairs should continue.