First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic bid today farewell to the Spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, before her departure from Hotel Moscow and ending her official visit to Serbia.

Zakharova thanked Minister Dacic for the whole concept of her visit which was, in her own opinion, amazing.

"I am thankful to Ivica because he himself was responsible for all the arrangements that were so touching and unbelievable. I had the opportunity also to see the real Serbia which I would never have seen otherwise on an official visit", said Zakharova.

She commented that normally when she made official visits she went through airports, stayed at hotels and attended official events, so that on all those occasions she had no opportunity to see the true face of a country.

"I saw Serbia, the real and vibrant one, and I saw how people live here", she said adding that insofar as business meetings, exchanges and socializing in Serbia it was extremely hectic that there were two rounds of consultations instead of only one scheduled.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized even a second round of consultations last night on issues of a technical nature. We could have met only once, but it was so interesting that we decided to meet twice", commented Zakharova.

According to her, Guca trumpet festival "is a big festival, a huge event that thrills and inspires, a combination of modern and traditional attracting younger generations".

Zakharova, who over coffee and a Moscow cake with Minister Dacic let the press in on a little secret that visitors at Guca came to her saying that they also wanted to hear Russian trumpet players at the festival.

"They told me that they would like to host the Leningrad group, and I immediately got in touch with Sergey Shnurov who said to me that this was an interesting idea and that he would try and organize it next year", Zakharova added by recalling that the Leningrad group had trumpeters on its band and that Shnurov could make a good competition with Serbian trumpeters.

Ivica Dacic expressed thanks to Zakharova for the visit which, as he put it, was of a working nature and took place in the context of political consultations on cooperation plans between the two Ministries.
"Working consultations were held in the field of public diplomacy in the broadest sense that is led by Ms. Zakharova at the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation", stated Dacic.

He said that the Zakharova visit was given great attention in the media and that it contributed to good relations between the two states and two peoples.