First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic received a letter of appreciation from Ambassadors of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway in gratitude for having kindly offered the Nordic citizens who found themselves in Serbia during the state of emergency declared following the Covid-19 virus outbreak to return to their homes on board the Air Serbia plane flying to Stockholm to repatriate Serbian citizens.

Full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Minister,

Yesterday, an Air Serbia flight was sent to Stockholm, in order to enable Serbian citizens stranded there to return home. When the flight was decided upon, your Ministry kindly offered to bring Nordic subjects stranded in Serbia in the opposite direction. Through intense work and cooperation between the Nordic Embassies in Belgrade, we managed over the weekend to reach out to most of those stranded, and enable them to board the flight. They are now back in their home countries, and grateful for this.

We are grateful to the Serbian Government for making this flight available, and would like to stress the excellent cooperation and forthcoming attitude provided by the Protocol Department of your Ministry, and Mr Dragan Petrović personally. In addition, the airport staff and border police at "Nikola Tesla" airport dealt with sometimes difficult issues in a very professional and cooperative manner, something which will certainly remembered not only by the Nordic Embassies, but also by the travelers.

Out of medical necessity, borders have reappeared all over Europe. This is, however, just a transitory situation. Gestures of help and cooperation in order to address this challenge to all our societies shall last for longer in our memories than current restrictions.

With warm regards,

Jan Lundin
Ambassador of Sweden

Anders Christian Hougård
Ambassador of Denmark

Kimmo Lähdevirta
Ambassador of Finland

Jörn Eugene Gjelstad
Ambassador of Norway