First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met today with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics who is visiting Belgrade.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, the Latvian Minister said that the Republic of Latvia supported the efforts the Republic of Serbia invested in reforms and its EU path.

"We will do our best to prepare the accession negotiations," said the Latvian Foreign Minister, commending the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and noting its complexity and importance both for all participants and for the stability in the region.

"Though my visit is a very short one, I hope that we will be able to make progress in the accession process," said Rinkevics, not wanting to talk about the deadlines, because it is a "very complicated process."

Minister Dacic pointed out that Serbia was ready for opening the chapters with the EU and added that it was doing everything possible to ensure the political and administrative capacities are prepared for the moment when a political decision is made to admit Serbia as the new EU member.

"Serbia will not change its orientation, we want EU membership, we therefore continue the dialogue with Pristina in Brussels," Dacic said.

"The negotiations on EU membership should be the spark for general reform of the society," said Minister.

The Serbian Foreign Minister pointed out that there were no outstanding issues between Serbia and Latvia, and that it was in their common interest to find points that connected us.

When it comes to bilateral relations, the Ministers agreed that they were exceptional, but more had to be done on economic cooperation, given that the foreign trade of 11 million euro was very small.

The Latvian Minister praised Serbia as the OSCE Chair for its efforts to resolve international issues.