The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, spoke today at a panel of the Bled Strategic Forum "The Future of the Western Balkans: How to Make Regional Cooperation Work", which is currently being held at Bled.

Minister Dacic said that the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries had made an essential impact on improving regional cooperation, and that it undoubtedly also helped resolve many outstanding issues in the region, through dialogue.

Minister Dačić stated that encouraging were the assurances received from Croatian partners that they would neither block nor set conditions for their neighbours on the European path through unresolved bilateral issues, and that they would be among the most vocal supporters of continued EU enlargement.

"We know that a difficult period of reforms is ahead of us. At the same time, I am pleased to note that Serbia has achieved significant progress in many areas, such as the fight against corruption and organized crime, justice, as well as in the promotion of human and minority rights", said Dačić adding that regional cooperation and Serbia's active participation in regional initiatives greatly contributed to progress in these areas.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy underlined that the European perspective was also a key factor enabling success in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

He reiterated that full membership of the European Union was the Serbian Government's foremost priority in its commitment to complete the accession negotiations by the end of its term of office in 2018. Dačić said that it was necessary that the European Union, despite the problems faced by it, demonstrated appropriate flexibility regarding the specificities of the Western Balkan region and not allow the issues of further EU enlargement to be sidelined.

Minister Dačić pointed out that it would be useful if the European Union considered more extensive economic and financial support to the region through the redistribution of the means of financial support in a way enabling a portion of the resources earmarked for the Member States to be allocated also during the EU accession process.

"I am confident that this would be no cost to the Union and its citizens, but would, on the contrary, contribute to the further stabilization and economic development of the region, thus being beneficial both for the Western Balkans and the European Union", said Dačić.

In the margins of the Bled Forum Minister Dacic had bilateral meetings with Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek, Foreign Ministers of Slovenia and Sri Lanka, Karl Erjavec and Gamini Lakshman Peiris, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Yi, EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti, and Chairman of the Croatian Sabor Committee on Foreign Affairs Milorad Pupovac.

Minister Dačić at a panel discussion of the Bled Strategic Forum

Meeting of Minister Dačić with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Yi

 

Meeting of Minister Dačić with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti

 

Minister Dačić with Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec

 

Meeting of Minister Dačić with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris