“Serbia and Portugal have very good political and friendly relations and Lisbon strongly supports Serbia’s European integration process and the opening of EU
accession negotiation chapters”, stated today Heads of diplomacy of Serbia and Portugal Ivica Dacic and Rui Machete.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs signed today an Agreement on Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Education, Youth, Sports and Media and the Implementation
Protocol to the Agreement on Readmission of persons residing without authorization in the European Union.
The Ministers agreed that the bilateral relations were good and based on strong friendship, but also added there was still a large potential for improvement in
economic cooperation.
Recalling that diplomatic relations between Serbia and Portugal were established almost 100 years ago, Dacic observed that trade was currently at only €35 million a year and that talks on promoting economic relations would be one of the priorities.
Dacic also said that he discussed with his Portuguese counterpart signing an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and a plan to organize a business
forum in Portugal concerning investments in Serbia. Another topic of discussion was Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship, with Machete expressing belief that Serbia would continue to contribute to the efforts of finding a political solution for the Ukraine crisis, adhering to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“Portugal fully supports Serbia’s candidate status and opening of accession negotiations. We encourage Serbia to focus on the key areas – judicial reform, the rule of law and economic governance. We are confident that the Serbian authorities will continue to be reliable and effective in their efforts”, Machete said in a statement following the talks with Dacic.
Minister Machete added that he conveyed expressions of condolences to Minister Dacic over the tragic helicopter crash, and invited the Head of Serbian diplomacy to visit Lisbon.