First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic led today a delegation of the Republic of Serbia at the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Serbia and Russia, held in Sochi.

The Intergovernmental Committee was co-chaired by Minister Ivica Dacic on the Serbian side, and by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin on the Russian side.

"It is highly positive that our foreign trade increased in 2017 in comparison to 2016, amounting to USD 2.5 billion.

Our goal is to develop economic relations to the greatest possible extent, in addition to the very good political relations, and to make use of all the benefits of the Free Trade Agreement, and of the ongoing negotiations on the Agreement being binding on all members of the Eurasian Economic Union.

We have a very good cooperation in the areas of energy, agriculture, and we have some new projects in the fields of economy and industry in the pipeline.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov is coming to Belgrade in a few days' time, on the occasion of marking 180th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Russia.

We have good cooperation at the international level with regard to the protection of our national and state interests. We foster traditional friendship and strategic partnership with the Russian Federation, and it is our task to use this as a solid basis for the development of cooperation in all segments of social life", Minister Dacic stated after the meeting.