State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nemanja Stevanovic participated in the Western Balkans Six Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Budva on 30 November 2018.

The meeting, among other topics, discussed the region's responsibility for the continuation of regional cooperation, and also the current situation, particularly in the context of the CEFTA Agreement implementation.

The State Secretary stressed in particular the urgent need to revoke the irrational decision of Pristina to impose a 100% tariff for Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He recalled that this, in addition to further aggravating the situation in northern Kosovo and Metohija where the majority population is Serbian, also affected all inhabitants – Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks and others.

"Serbia is committed to resolving all open issues through dialogue, and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is the key instrument for the normalization of relations between the two most populous peoples in the Balkans, the Serbs and the Albanians, and this is what Belgrade sincerely desires."

The State Secretary conveyed that it was impossible to expect that the dialogue continued in the present circumstances. In other words, the resumption would be possible after the lifting of such measure. He recalled that Pristina's side repeatedly stated, and even today, that the decision was in no way related to the CEFTA Agreement, but that it was a political one instead, aiming to penalize both Belgrade and BiH for their principled position concerning the status of KiM.

"The current situation in the Balkans is in no way helping the progress of regional cooperation, but on the contrary, it only goes to its detriment", concluded the State Secretary.