First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic leads the delegation of Serbia attending the bilateral screening meeting on Chapter 31, Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, held in Brussels today.

In making his opening remarks to European experts on behalf of the Serbian delegation, Minister Dacic underlined the clear strategic commitment of Serbia to its membership of the European Union, adding that the positive assessment of the past track record on our European path, received in the Commission's latest Report definitely served as a strong encouragement to continue this process.

Serbia attached particular importance to its accession negotiations on Foreign, Security and Defence Policy since it wished to affirm itself as a relevant and responsible partner of the Union and to contribute successfully to European policies. As a candidate country, the Republic of Serbia made its contribution to the efforts aimed at safeguarding global peace and stability and participated in many EU activities as an equal factor, as confirmed also by our engagement in EU missions, said the Minister.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy said that the country's political and social orientation towards EU values was unquestionable in Serbia: all parliamentary parties upheld Serbia's EU membership, and the opinion polls suggested that the majority of the population supported this policy.

On the other hand, the Minister said that we were aware of the great expectations placed in us, but that we were resolved to use reforms to improve the situation in the country and promote its international position.

Reflecting upon the forthcoming Serbian Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE, Minister Dacic said that Serbia would prove also in this respect that it was a credible international partner which would steer impartially and constructively this big multilateral organization with which the Union should forge even stronger ties, on which Serbia would also work in 2015.

Experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the main party in the negotiations on this chapter, together with their fellow experts from the Ministries of Defence, Interior, Finance, Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, as well as those from the Security Intelligence Agency, Office of the Council on National Security and Personal Data Protection and the European Integration Office, would explain to the experts of the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) how much Serbian regulations were approximated to EU Acquis in the field of European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy.

The beginning of the bilateral screening meeting with Serbia evolved in a candid atmosphere, for which the European experts were grateful to our experts, whose preparedness and commitment to the negotiating process were commended by them.

Among the subject-matters to be dwelt upon by our experts, to be followed by Q&A sessions, were formulation and conduct of foreign, security and defence policy, regional cooperation with the neighbours and regional initiatives, an overview of the political dialogue with other countries and regions, and the promotion of objectives related to human rights in foreign policy.