First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, who is today visiting Brussels, accompanied by Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic, said that Serbia had not changed its political position and that its military neutrality had not been brought into question.

“Unfortunately, we cannot change the past or the history of our relations with NATO, but we can make sure that our present and future cooperation is headed in a positive direction, on the basis of our common interest. That common interest is stability in the region, to be partners and to maintain peace in the region.

I must admit that we had a very positive discussion. This reflects also what I have been saying all the time, namely, that the international position of Serbia has changed a great deal.

I am very pleased with today’s meeting. It should be said that, for a number of years now, Serbia has been a member of the PfP programme and IPAP has been the outcome of it, defining our cooperation in six identified areas in the next two years. These areas concern specific projects and one of them is related to participation in search and rescue missions, while another project is related to public diplomacy, whereas some of the projects are in the field of science. Secretary General Stoltenberg has also had a meeting with Prime Minister Vucic and we expect that the forthcoming period will see concrete steps forward regarding issues which are important to us. NATO matters to us not only because of KFOR. Prime Minister Vucic and I were here even at the time of signing of the Brussels Agreement and NATO guaranteed then that some of the armed Albanian forces would not be allowed to come to northern Kosovo and Metohija without the permission of NATO or KFOR.

Therefore, it is our interest to develop partner relations. It is essential that the situation has changed – 16 years ago, we were on two different sides, and today, I hope we can be partners if we have a common interest like preserving peace and stability in the region”, said Minister Dacic in his statement.