First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic, who is on an official visit to Hungary today, voiced his pleasure over the development of bilateral relations between Serbia and Hungary, highlighting that historic progress had been made over the past two to three years in overcoming outstanding issues and differences from the past.

The Serbian Foreign Minister recalled that his Hungarian counterpart Mr. Peter Szijjarto headed the Hungarian delegation on the Joint Committee for Cooperation with Serbia.
“I am confident that he can be proud of the results we have all achieved. Our economic relations have been better than ever, foreign trade exchange between the two countries amounts to more than one billion euro”, Minister Dacic said after the meeting with Mr. Szijjarto, underscoring that in 2014 Hungary ranked sixth in terms of volume of foreign trade with Serbia.
Minister Dacic talked to Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjarto about the opening of border crossing points along the border between the two countries: “We are absolutely interested in our border being open to a free flow of people, goods and capital, but at the same time it must be closed to illegal migration, crime and people smuggling”, Minister Dacic said.
Minister Dacic singled out the issue of Budapest- Belgrade railway modernization that is supposed to be implemented in tandem with the Chinese side, as the two countries’ centerpiece project. “Feasibility studies concerning the project are due to be completed soon, and the wish of the Serbian, Hungarian and Chinese Prime Ministers is that the project be carried out quickly, for it is a tangible result of our cooperation”, Minister Dacic highlighted.
Minister Dacic expressed his gratitude to Hungary for the support it offered Serbia in its European integration process, and for assistance in transposing Hungarian experience from the process, stressing that experts from that country would also be on Serbian negotiating teams.
The abandoning of the South Stream pipeline project also figured as one of the topics of conversation between the two counterparts, and the Serbian Foreign Minister pointed out that the issue of gas supplies should be tackled jointly.
During today’s meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Minister Dacic and Prime Minister Orban exchanged views on the most important issues in international relations, including the Ukraine crisis