Is what the Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos stressed during a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivan Mrkic in New York, on the fringes of the UN General Assembly meeting. The two Ministers exchanged views on the situation in the Western Balkans, the progress of the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina and the preparations for the local elections in Kosovo. Venizelos said that Greece was firmly committed to the Euro Atlantic perspective of the Western Balkans. The Greek Minister assessed that the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina was historic and commended the Serbian leadership for their courage to make such a decision.

Ivan Mrkic also met with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Nabil Fahmy, with whom he agreed that both countries should allocate projects to be implemented over the next year. Fahmy said that the decision of Egypt to recognize Kosovo and Metohija was not made by the current government of Egypt, but the former President of the country. The Egyptian Foreign Minister assured the Serbian counterpart that the Egyptian authorities would always consult with Serbia on the matter, in the future.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, Rashid Meredov and Ivan Mrkic have agreed that the development of relations, especially the promotion of economic cooperation and trade is of mutual interest. Meredov invited Mrkic to visit Ashkhabad in October, where, in addition to bilateral meetings with top officials of Turkmenistan, he would take part in the international conference "Energy Security and Sustainable Development".

With the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia Karl Erjavec, Mrkic discussed the most important issues in bilateral relations, shortly before a joint session of the two governments, to be held in early October in Belgrade.

Ivan Mrkic met with the OSCE Troika - the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Ukraine and Switzerland at the Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations. They conferred on how to carry out activities in order to strengthen the role and impact of the OSCE, the organization that includes countries stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Mrkic informed colleagues about the upcoming elections in Kosovo and Metohija and the expectations entertained by Serbia regarding the role of the OSCE, which, as he said, was key in ensuring that the elections were fair with credible results.

Minister Ivan Mrkic will meet today with his colleague from the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and with Cuban colleague Bruno Rodriguez. In the afternoon, the Serbian Foreign Minister will participate at the Ministerial meeting of the South East European Cooperation Process, presided over by Romania.