First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received today Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who is on a visit to the Republic of Serbia.

In the talks, they discussed prospects for the promotion of overall cooperation between the two countries, particularly in economy, culture and education, and pointed to the necessity to further strengthen the contractual cooperation.

Both officials underlined that the Serbian community in Australia was an important element of relations between the Republic of Serbia and Australia.

During the talks with the Head of Serbian diplomacy, in addition to discussing bilateral issues and cooperation in this area, the Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific pointed to the importance Australia attached to human rights issues at national and international levels, presented Australia's candidacy for membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018-2020, stressing that Australia had earlier never been a member of this UN body.