Lisbon "firmly supports opening of chapters"

Lisbon "firmly supports opening of chapters"

"Portugal fully supports Serbia’s candidate status and the opening of membership negotiations," Machete said after his meeting with Dacic.

On the occasion, an agreement on cooperation in the fields of culture, education, youth, sports and media and of a protocol on the implementation of agreements on readmission of persons residing illegally in the EU were signed.

"We encourage Serbia to focus on the essential areas - judiciary reform, the rule of law and economic management. We are confident that the Serbian authorities will continue to be reliable and effective in their efforts," Machete said.

He "pointed out that Portugal supported the European perspective of the whole Western Balkans and voiced belief that every candidate state needed to progress on its own merits."

Both ministers said that although the two countries enjoyed "good relations" there was "still a lot of room for improvement in economic relations."

Serbia and Portugal established diplomatic relations almost 100 years ago, Dacic said, adding that trade was currently at only EUR 35 million a year, and that talks on improving the economic relations would be one of the priorities.

Dacic added he and Machete had also discussed signing an agreement on avoiding double taxation and a plan to organize a business forum in Portugal concerning investments in Serbia.

The topics of the meeting included Serbia's OSCE chairmanship and Machete said he believed Serbia would continue to contribute to the efforts to find a political solution for the Ukrainian crisis "ith respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Machete invited Dacic to visit Lisbon.

Bilateral cooperation

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic conferred in Belgrade on Wednesday with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Portugal Rui Machete concerning the two countries' relations, improvement of political and economic cooperation and other issues.

The agenda of the meeting also covered the relations in the region, the crisis in Ukraine and increased presence of Portuguese companies on the Serbian market.

The meeting was also attended by Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali who presented the Belgrade Waterfront project to the Portuguese delegation.

The officials also reached an agreement on a mutual visit of two countries' business delegations, states the release issued by the Serbian government Office for cooperation with the media.

Machete previously conferred with Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, and he should also meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.