First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt Sameh Shoukry in Belgrade today.
Minister Dacic welcomed his Egyptian counterpart first, as he arrived at Nikola Tesla Airport for a two-day official visit to our country.

In today's meeting, Minister Dacic and the Egyptian Foreign Minister discussed ways to enhance and promote the relations between the two countries. It was underlined that the two countries were tied by a traditional friendship, considering that Egypt and the former Yugoslavia were among the co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The two Ministers agreed that the two countries shared many interests in common, and a willingness for mutual assistance.

Minister Dacic said that the visit was very important for Serbia and the development of bilateral relations, and that it should be a kind of an advance party for a visit by President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to Serbia.

The Serbian Foreign Minister noted that they agreed to hold a meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation between the two countries in the first half of next year, in order to promote the economic cooperation, since their total value of trade in goods amounted to only USD 70 million in the last year.

Minister Shoukry underlined in particular that the goal of Egypt was to improve the bilateral relations with Serbia – from the economy to education.

"I hope that this will be initiated by the Joint Committee", said Shoukry who co-chairs this body alongside Minister Dacic.
"The visit by Minister Shoukry to Serbia has little to do with Egypt's potential decision that would define the approach of this country to Kosovo", said Minister Dacic, adding that this approach could at the moment be defined as a "frozen recognition of Kosovo".

He recalled that it was President el-Sisi who said a few years ago that Egypt did not establish diplomatic relations with Kosovo, and that the country did not vote in favour of Kosovo. He also reminded that in the final days of President Morsi's reign their Spokesperson at the time announced that Egypt had recognized Kosovo but the change of government followed immediately after that.

"The big question here is what they should revoke, since there is no written decision, at least none that we have seen", said Dacic.

After the meeting the two Foreign Ministers signed two MoUs. The Serbian and Egyptian Foreign Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, while Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic and Minister Shoukry signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the fields of youth and sports between the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Arab Republic of Egypt.