First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met India's Minister of State for External Affairs Mubashir Javed Akbar, in the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum.

In today's meeting, both sides reaffirmed the readiness to further promote the overall and particularly economic cooperation between Serbia and India.

It was mutually assessed that the visit of the then Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic to India, in the context of his participation in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, that being the first outgoing visit from Serbia to India at that level over the past three decades, gave significant impetus to further intensification of the political dialogue and cooperation at both strategic and economic levels.

Minister Akbar invited Minister Dacic to visit India, a proposal gladly accepted by the Serbian side, especially in the light of the significant upcoming anniversary – 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and India.

India's side reaffirmed further support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, for which reason Serbia's side expressed particular gratitude.

Both sides noted the existence of significant potentials for further enhancement of economic cooperation between the two countries, and agreed on further activities aimed at reaching the pre-set goal of increasing the volume of merchandise trade to 1 billion US dollars, over the next 5 years. In the meeting, views were also exchanged on new Indian investments in Serbia, in addition to the previous successful investment in an IT park project in Indjija, made by India's Embassy Group.

The Indian side also expressed special satisfaction with the Decision on the Abolition of Visas for nationals of India, holding ordinary passports, for transit and stay in the Republic of Serbia not exceeding 30 days during one year.