Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for the EU Ms Ljubica Vasic talked today with the Ambassador of Romania in Belgrade, Mr Daniel Banu.

The topics related to the Serbian EU integration process were discussed, and Romanian support in the process was underscored. Ambassador Banu singled out Serbia as the key partner in the region, and he expressed Romanian readiness to help at both the technical and the political level during the EU accession negotiations. Ambassador Banu used the occasion to point to some problems which, in Romanian assessment, members of the Romanian national minority face in Serbia, expressing the hope that through joint efforts, all the problems would be overcome in the coming period.

Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Ljubica Vasic assessed that the relations in the region were stable, and that Serbia maintained good-neighbourly cooperation with all the countries from the region. Ms Vasic expressed gratitude for the Romanian support to Serbia's European path. When it comes to minorities, Mr Vasic highlighted that Serbia respected and implemented relevant norms and standards, and that the problems the minorities faced were being resolved in accordance with the Constitution and the law. She added that the reforms the Government was carrying out on the path to the EU aimed, inter alia, to additionally improve the position of the members of the national minorities living in Serbia, and that the efforts made by the Serbian Government in this sphere had been recognized by the EU, which was particularly emphasized in the last European Commissions' report.