Appearing on TV Prva news, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic announced that a flight to Paris and Frankfurt was organized for tomorrow as well as another to the United States on Wednesday, enabling Serbian citizens to return home from abroad.

He stressed that no flight to repatriate Serbian citizens took off without prior approval of the Office of the Serbian President and then of the Ministry of Transport, too, while the passengers were dealt with by the Interior and Health Ministries upon their arrival to Belgrade airport.

The Minister said that Germany was the country where from most of our people expressed wish to return - 1500 of them, and that this number in the United States was 700 at the moment. He stressed that remote destinations were not on the agenda and that expectations should not be set too high in this respect.

"This is why we called on all those staying at remote destinations to find a way to get nearer to Serbia, by reaching Europe, Abu Dhabi or Qatar, for instance, locations to which we would be able to send planes", Dacic said.

"Some of them gave up on boarding the flights as they heard that quarantine was mandatory on arrival. Having learned that they would have to isolate at home for 28 days some of them decided not to return. Those with symptoms are held and tested on arrival to Serbia, while others are sent to a 28-day home quarantine", Dacic explained, stressing that there were no more Serbian citizens stranded at airports and border crossings.

The Minister underlined that our citizens were being repatriated according to the level of priority, with students, persons on business trips having precedence, and then tourists and those who had lost their jobs.

Minister Dacic said that organized return of our citizens from abroad was not something the authorities were obliged to do and that it was positive that our citizens were being reached out to, but that they were expected to show some understanding, given that an international flight ban was in effect. He noted that the Serbian Government was assisted by the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) which covered the expenses of aviation fuel for Air Serbia aircraft, thanking the company for this.

The Minister conveyed to all that were not facing an existential threat and whose return was not a necessity to delay their trips, noting that this was not the time to travel as it was extremely difficult to carry out.
"Serbia has a goodwill to help, but the expectations need to be played down to be realistic. An airplane a day while conforming to all necessary measures", Dacic concluded.