First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic, briefly met on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Foreign Office Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan.

In talks with his U.S. counterpart, Minister Dacic emphasized that it was necessary to reach certain strategic agreements and that Serbia was ready to engage in open talks with the new U.S. administration.

"I drew his attention to the fact that the changes in the U.S. policy should be made only by the President, Vice-President and the Secretary of State, because representatives of the old Establishment cannot do that since they defend their own policies of the 1990s".

In his talks with Tillerson, Minister Dacic once again expressed a wish of our country that Serbia and the United States should identify their common interests.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy assessed that it was necessary to maintain more frequent communications as well as that a win-win situation was possible whereby through identification of common interests certain problems in our region, such is Kosovo and Metohija, could be permanently resolved.

"Talks with Tillerson were meant to open the door for a bilateral meeting with him early next year", Minister Dacic said.

With Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, chief Serbian diplomat discussed the details of his future visit to Serbia.

"Minister Lavrov is coming on 24 February when we observe the 180th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Serbia".

In his talks with the U.K. Minister for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan, both parties expressed commitment to promoting the relations between the two countries, particularly in view of the 180th landmark anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations. Minister Duncan reiterated Great Britain's strong support to our EU integration effort and emphasized in particular that despite Brexit his country would not reduce its engagement in the Western Balkans. The two Ministers discussed the forthcoming EU-Western Balkans summit to be held in London in July 2018.

"The U.K. Minister for Europe and the Americas told us that his country was preparing EU-Western Balkans summit in London at the end of July next year. He asked us to advance our special requirements if we had any", Dacic said, adding that Minister Duncan would visit Serbia early next year.

In his talks with the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, first after the problems caused by statements of the Ukrainian Ambassador in Belgrade, Ministers Dacic and Klimkin once again stated that it was important for our two countries to maintain good relations.

"Both of us concluded that Ambassadors should perform their duties in line with the Vienna Convention and avoid engaging in global politics that has nothing to do with our bilateral relations", the Head of Serbian diplomacy said.
Minister Dacic pointed out that it was agreed to continue communication and presented his view that it would be good for Minister Klimkin to pay a visit to Serbia next year.