First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic commented, at the beginning of his regular monthly news conference, on the results achieved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first 100 days of the current Government's term of office.

"The international position of Serbia is much better than it was before. A significant step forward has been made in this area", said the Foreign Minister, adding that the MFA was fully involved in fulfilling Serbia's foreign policy priorities – its EU membership in the first place, as well as strengthening of cooperation with the neighbours and preservation of the country's territorial integrity.

"We have managed to present ourselves in the international political arena as a serious political player – in Moscow, Paris and Berlin", said Minister Dacic, who played host during this period to senior officials or Foreign Ministers of 17 countries (Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Turkish MFA Davutoglu, Italian Foreign Minister Mogherini, Assistant US Secretary of State Victoria Newland and a number of EU officials including EU High Representative Ashton and former EC President Barroso, to mention just a few).

Speaking about Serbia's forthcoming OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office, Dacic stated that Serbia outlined, in Vienna, on 15 July 2014, its plan of the Organization's Chairmanship, noting that it was becoming clearer what a difficult task that was going to be, as well as a big test for Serbia's capacity and maturity. "It will surely require a lot of political wisdom to enable Serbia to carry out its task in such a way as to make the OSCE truly work", the Foreign Minister concluded. He announced that Serbia would take over the Chairmanship-in-Office from Switzerland at the Ministerial Conference to be held in Basel, in early December, whereas the first meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council under "Serbia's baton" would take place in Vienna, in mid-January.

Dacic reiterated that Serbia's foremost foreign policy priority was its EU membership, implying alignment of its foreign and security policy with Brussels. "It is a process that we will have to and will be required to pursue, but without losing sight of our national interests", said Minister Dacic.

The Serbian Foreign Minister said that Serbia's policy vis-a-vis the issue of the Ukrainian crisis had not changed and appealed to the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko to make their best efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to this crisis. We would like to see the crisis in Ukraine resolved peacefully. Both Russia and Ukraine are our friends", Minister Dacic stated. He went on to say that although Serbia respected and supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, experience tells us that the only way to reach a durable solution is through dialogue. Serbia, as a country close to Ukraine and Russia, as well as Brussels and Washington, is ready to offer its maximum assistance and that it will continue to do so during its OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office in 2015, concluded Dacic.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was continuously following, through its diplomatic and consular offices, the security risks facing its citizens in the hotbeds of crisis throughout the world, said the Foreign Minister. Serbian diplomatic and consular missions are maintaining, within the limits of its possibilities, regular contacts with all Serbian citizens who contact them asking for consular assistance and protection. They inform these citizens of the existing security risks, offer advice on specific measures of protection and help them leave conflict zones if they so require. Minister Dacic reiterated his appeal to all Serbian citizens who needed evacuation, to contact the relevant Serbian diplomatic mission or the MFA Crisis Staff. He also reminded of the appeal addressed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Serbian workers intending to seek temporary employment in the Russian Federation to obtain, before entering into any employment contracts, detailed information on the conditions of work and issuance of work permits and visas, in order to avoid negative consequences and deportation from Russia.

Speaking of the activities planned for the coming month, Minister Dacic singled out the Western Balkan Conference to be held in Berlin, on 28 August 2014, at the initiative German Chancellor Merkel. This conference should contribute to the strengthening of Serbia's relations with Germany as one of the key EU Member States, intensify the EU integration process of Serbia and the region and draw the cooperation in the Balkans towards specific projects aimed at further strengthening our industrial and economic capacities, underlined the Serbian Foreign Minister. He also announced that a similar conference would be organized by Austria next year and that there was an intention of organizing such meetings until all the Balkan countries join EU membership.

In conclusion, Minister Dacic stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a Working Group, headed by its Secretary General Veljko Odalovic, tasked with preparing the draft Law on foreign affairs to be focused on cutting down expenses, full professionalization of the diplomatic network and definition of the professional promotion criteria in the Foreign Service. Foreign Minister Dacic further urged the Serbian MPs and Government officials whose offices had expired, to return their diplomatic and official passports. The appeal relates to MPs of the former Serbian Parliament (77 persons) and a group of former Serbian Government officials (9 persons) whose legal grounds for the issuance of these passports had terminated or changed.
If the persons referred to above fail to act accordingly, the MFA shall declare such passports null and void, as they had not been returned within the legally defined period of 60 days from the date the legal grounds for their further use ceased to exist, in line with the powers envisaged by the provisions of the Law Amending the Law on Travel Documents of 21 June 2014. Voluntary return of diplomatic and official passports would demonstrate the will of their holders to perform their duties and exercise their rights as law-abiding citizens, contributing also to the saving of budgetary funds to be allocated in case of initiating procedures for declaring the passports null and void.