SERBIA

DACIC MEETS WITH CHEPURIN

BELGRADE, 25 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met on Dec. 25 with Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin, who handed to Dacic a season's greetings letter from his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov wrote that he was pleased to see that a strategic partnership between Belgrade and Moscow had thrived, and that the trend was likely to continue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. Chepurin and Dacic shared the results of Serbian-Russian cooperation in 2018, discussing also preparations for President Putin's visit to Serbia, which Minister Dacic described as a very important event for the country, the ministry released.

DACIC HANDS DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS TO SERBIAN WATER POLO NATIONAL TEAM

BELGRADE, 24 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic handed on Dec. 24 diplomatic passports to Serbia's national water polo team as a reward for its numerous successes. The new travel documents were given to current national team players, but also to recent team captains Zivko Gocic and Slobodan Nikic, who have hugely contributed to winning medals at the biggest competitions. Coach Dejan Savic also received a diplomatic passport. "Water polo is our most successful sport, while investment in it and the results are disproportional. I can no longer say which successes they are being rewarded for, because there are so many of them that they deserve to have diamond or golden passports. This is not recognition but Serbia's need for you to be ambassadors of good will," Dacic said. According to the Water Polo Federation, the minister said that the idea of awarding diplomatic passports to the members of the national team had existed before. "I am glad that several years later we have realized this agreement, it is hard to fit in all the obligations the water polo players have," Dacic added. Serbian national team captain Filip Filipovic said that the team members would strive to justify their role as ambassadors of good will.

VUCIC: ROSU NOT ALLOWED INTO NORTH WITHOUT KFOR, SERB COMMUNITY'S CONSENT

BELGRADE, 25 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Dec. 25 that the only truth was that an agreement had been made with NATO that not a single Kosovo unit armed with guns had the right to enter the north of Kosovo without the consent of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and local authorities, and that anyone saying otherwise was "the worst liar ever." In an interview with Pink TV, President Vucic explained that he had attended all meetings with NATO representatives, and that during the signing of the Brussels Agreement a special guarantee was required to keep the ROSU police unit away from the north, as there were no other units of the kind at the time, nor was anyone mentioning a Kosovo army. "It is precisely a lack of ROSU presence in the north that our agreement with NATO was based on. I had repeated that to Catherine Ashton five hundred times before we came into the NATO building, and the agreement was that there would be no formations with long guns, with an emphasis on ROSU. There were also two conditions attached - a ROSU presence had to be approved by KFOR and NATO on the one hand, and representatives of the local community, namely four mayors, on the other. That's a cumulative condition, not an alternative one. It's the complete truth, and if anyone says it isn't, they are the worst liars," Vucic was explicit. Commenting on a KFOR representative's statement that ROSU was allowed to move to the north of Kosovo, Vucic said that he had heard "all sorts of stupid things" before, whenever it was necessary to justify a bad action towards Serbia in the past few decades. "That's why Serbia has sent a stark message to them not to play with such things, as they might threaten peace and security for everyone in the Balkans. It's no secret either that they will support Kosovo's statehood in any way they can find... I wish people in Kosovo and Metohija to celebrate New Year's Eve and Christmas in good health, knowing that they can always count on their homeland and Serbia," he said. Speaking of possibilities to continue the talks with Pristina, Vucic said that Pristina should merely lift a tariff it had levied on Serbian products, and the negotiations would resume. The president warned, however, that the signals Pristina had been sending, including the new customs fees and a decision to include Fatmir Limaj in the team of negotiators, made it clear that the Kosovo authorities weren't ready for a compromise.

BRNABIC MEETS WITH CHEPURIN TO DISCUSS SERBIAN-RUSSIAN TIES

BELGRADE, 25 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic met on Dec. 25 with the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Chepurin, confident that the two states would continue to strengthen their ties in 2019. Ambassador Chepurin said he hoped that the new year would bring "a more dynamic growth rate, and peace and stability in the region," the Serbian government said. The Serbian PM expressed gratitude for Russia's support and the consistent support by the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, during an emergency session of the Security Council in the wake of Pristina's moves, the Brnabic office quoted her as saying in a press release. Brnabic described an upcoming visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin as very important for Serbia, and "yet another confirmation of good bilateral relations." The prime minister and the ambassador exchanged best wishes for the upcoming holidays, said the release.

LJAJIC, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT MEET

BELGRADE, 24 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic met in Baku on Dec. 24 with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss improving political and economic relations between the two countries, according to a statement from his ministry. Aliyev voiced his content with a new political strategic partnership with Serbia and said that level of cooperation should be achieved in the area of the economy. He said that he expected successful negotiations on financing the construction of a highway connecting Ruma, Sabac and Loznica. Ljajic and Aliyev concluded that agriculture and tourism were fields with the highest potential for increasing the volume of trade, the statement said. During his visit to Baku, Ljajic opened an economic forum with his Azerbaijani counterpart where representatives of Palic, Sokobanja and Banja Rusanda spa presented development projects to potential Azerbaijani investors.

MIHAJLOVIC MEETS WITH RUSSIAN RAILWAYS CEO TO DISCUSS NEW PROJECTS

BELGRADE, 24 December 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic met on Dec. 24 with the Russian Railways director, Oleg Belozyorov, to discuss Serbia's new railway projects, including the construction of a much needed train control center. The minister said at a press conference in the Serbian government building that "it's an honor to work with one of the world's best companies, the Russian Railways, carrying a billion passengers this year." "I hope that we'll sign a contract in January for the construction of a train control center, and the electrification of the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad rail line," Mihajlovic said. The minister explained that she had also discussed with the delegation the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Bar railway along the section from Valjevo through Uzice to the Serbian-Montenegrin border, and a training program in Russia for Serbian engineers to learn how to run "serious railway projects." She said that the Serbian government's priority was to develop the road and railway infrastructure connecting Serbia with the region. Belozyorov said that it was the Russian Railways' policy to produce high-quality work by the deadline. "The Cortanovci tunnel and 44 percent of the works are completed in the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad railway section. We are ready for new projects," the Russian Railways CEO said.