Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivan Mrkic is on a visit to Addis Ababa, to attend the African Union Summit, officially opening tomorrow. In the following two days, the Minister will have a number of bilateral meetings with Summit participants and with officials of Ethiopia, as the host country.

Minister Mrkic talked today with Foreign Minister of Somalia, Abdirahman Duale Bailey, and Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Imhamid Abdulaziz.

Foreign Minister of Somalia highlighted successful cooperation between Somalia and the Republic of Serbia in the area of education and he thanked Minister Mrkic for the participation of two Somali scholarship holders in "The World in Serbia" project. He also recalled that generations of students from Somalia had been studying in Serbia for decades.

The need to strengthen relations between the two countries was stressed in the talks, and it was recalled that diplomatic relations had been established back in 1960s.

During the meeting with his Libyan counterpart, Minister Mrkic pointed out that what was important were the relations between the two peoples, and not their regimes. Abdulaziz said that his country wanted to cooperate with the Republic of Serbia in different areas, expressing his wish to build the relations between the two countries that existed before.

In the coming days, Minister Mrkic will also talk to South Africa's Foreign Minister, Maite Emily Nkoana- Mashabane, and he will submit the Draft agreement on economic cooperation between Serbia and the African Union to Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, as announced during Mwencha's recent visit to Belgrade.