First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic assessed today's agreement between Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Russian Defence Minister Shoygu to be of historic importance to Serbia.

"After many years and decades, Serbia is strengthening its defence capabilities, essential for the protection of its state and national interests, while continuing to pursue its declared policy of military neutrality.

Only strong Serbia can be respected. So far, nobody has neither been willing, able nor dared act that way.

span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Noting that the relations between the two countries had been traditionally good, Minister Dacic expressed his confidence that the Ambassador would continue the activities towards enhancing cooperation in all areas of common interest, underlining that in pursuing these efforts the Ambassador could count on the support of all institutions in Serbia. The interlocutors agreed that it was necessary to intensify high-level political dialogue and promote cooperation, particularly in the economic area.