First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received today a farewell call by the outgoing Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Ambassador Peter Burkhard.

Minister Dacic thanked his interlocutor for the four years' long cooperation, which he assessed as very good and constructive, wishing Ambassador Burkhard every success in his new engagement.

It was mutually assessed that cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia had been of special importance during last year's Serbian OSCE Chairmanship.

Moreover, Ambassador Peter Burkhard pointed out that Serbia had made huge progress during his term-of-office, ever since 2012, up to the present day.

The Serbian Foreign Minister pointed to the fact that it was unacceptable for certain advisors and officers of the OSCE Mission to Serbia to make political statements, thus calling into question the fairly good cooperation existing between the Mission and Serbian state authorities.

The Italian diplomat Andrea Orizio has been appointed to succeed Mr. Burkhard as Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.