First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met today in Belgrade with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Suriname, Ms. Yldiz D. Pollack-Beighle.

At a joint press conference following the meeting, Minister Dacic emphasized how pleased he was to play host to the Minister of Suriname. The Minister called her a great friend of Serbia and emphasized that Serbia highly appreciated what she and the Surinamese President did for the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Serbian Foreign Minister said that he expected the President of Suriname to visit Serbia as well as that he visited Suriname on 10 February and signed four memorandums and agreements including the Friendship and Cooperation Agreement and the Roadmap.

"In line with the Roadmap, a Committee comprising four representatives from each country will be charged with analyzing and promoting cooperation. We want our cooperation to be comprehensive," Minister Dacic said.

Ministers Dacic and Pollack-Beighle today signed the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and the Suriname Institute of Diplomacy.

"It is important to encourage economic cooperation and educational cooperation, including military and military/health education. We also want to cooperate at the multilateral level since we conduct similar policy".

The Minister expressed special gratitude to Suriname for revoking the recognition of Kosovo's independence and stated that it was a bold move that contributed to efforts aimed at a compromise solution.

"What Suriname did was a triggering factor influencing other countries to re-examine their decisions and revoke recognition of Kosovo."

Minister Pollack-Beighle expressed deep and genuine gratitude to Serbian authorities for the pleasant and warm hospitality accorded to her.

"Although geographically far apart, Suriname and Serbia have good relations based on mutual benefit and understanding, reinforced by the respect for territorial integrity and principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states", Pollack-Beighle said. She emphasized that she agreed with Minister Dacic to step up political and economic cooperation.

"I think that we have approached cooperation in a pragmatic way, especially in the field such as economy. I trust that our economic cooperation with Serbia is going well, which is beneficial not only to our economic cooperation but also to our partnership", the Foreign Minister of Suriname said.

Moreover, she said that that they were hoping that cooperation with Serbia would also develop in the fields of defence, energy, education, IT sector, water management, fisheries and tourism.