First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic visited today the Republic of Latvia where he met with Prime Minister of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and Deputy Speaker of the Latvian Parliament Inese Libina-Egner.

The main topics of the discussion were improvement of bilateral political relations and intensification of economic cooperation. Minister Dacic talked with officials of Latvia about the process of Serbia-EU negotiations, as well as the priorities of Serbia’s forthcoming OSCE Chairmanship.
Minister Dacic pointed out that the visit to Latvia was particularly significant because that country would chair the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2015 and said that he expected that Serbia would begin with the opening of negotiation chapters during that period. He expressed his hope that the implementation of the Brussels Agreement would be continued after the setting up of the government in Pristina, and that this would also contribute to the earliest possible opening of certain chapters.
“If opening of chapters is not possible by the end of this year, we will make every effort to ensure that it takes place in the first six months of next year and would appreciate if Latvia, as the Chair, helped us in this respect”, said Dacic, adding that the entire region expected Latvia to confirm the EU commitment to the European integration of the Western Balkans.
Dacic invited Latvian Foreign Minister Rinkevics to visit our region to continue talks on bilateral relations, European integration and Serbian OSCE Chairmanship.
“Serbia will endeavour to be a neutral and honest negotiator who will, with its good services, good contacts and support from all sides, do its best to contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflicts”, Dacic said, thanking Latvia for the continued support extended to Serbia on its European path so far.