First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic, who is on an official visit to Norway, toured today the Norwegian Parliament.

The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Norwegian Parliament played host to the Serbian Foreign Minister, who was welcomed by a delegation of Norwegian MPs, headed by Marit Nybakk.

Norwegian MPs, who are in the process of considering the latest strategic document on the future directions of Norway's foreign policy where the Western Balkans features as one of Norwegian foreign-policy priorities, were interested to hear how the Serbian side viewed the development of bilateral relations between Serbia and Norway, and possibilities for Norway to support the process of regional reconciliation and of accelerating the EU integration process.

During his tour of the Norwegian Museum of Science & Technology, Minister Dacic visited an exhibition dedicated to the prisoners who were forced to work in SS camps in the occupied Norway, during the Second World War. More than 4,200 Yugoslav internees were taken to Norway under duress, in several waves starting from 1942. The prisoners were taken to Norway from concentration camps in Jasenovac, Banjica, Sremska Mitrovica, Leskovac and Nis. The Yugoslav prisoners are dedicated a significant part of this exhibition.

In the context of the Minister's visit to the Museum, he held a lecture titled "Serbia's Place in a Rapidly Changing Europe", attended by numerous representatives of Norway's official institutions, experts and members of the diplomatic corps.

The Minister assessed that the accession of Serbia and the countries of the Western Balkans to the European Union is a strategic goal of equal importance to the countries of our region and to Europe as a whole. The Minister particularly underlined that the European unification project would be successfully rounded off only after the Western Balkans is fully integrated, despite all the current turbulences.