First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic had talks today with Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Karu Jayasuriya.

Minister Dacic and the Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament discussed the prospects for promotion of the two countries' bilateral relations, and parliamentary cooperation in particular .

In the talks they noted that the relations between Serbia and Sri Lanka were traditionally friendly, dating back to the Non-Aligned Movement and lasting to the present day. The sides expressed mutual good will and readiness to take tangible steps, in the period to come, towards the enhancement of, above all, parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

Mr. Speaker of Parliament stressed that Sri Lanka attached great importance to parliamentary diplomacy. He conveyed his readiness to pay an official visit to Serbia and extended an invitation to the Speaker of National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Maja Gojkovic, to visit Sri Lanka.

Minister Dacic thanked his collocutor for the position of Sri Lanka concerning non-recognition of the unilaterally declared independence of "Kosovo", expressing his belief that this position, grounded in international law, would be maintained in the future as well.