Vucic: Time to overcome "difficult event"

Vucic: Time to overcome "difficult event"

"I want to and will invest enormous energy so we continue to work and cooperate and put aside the passions from the past," he told reporters in Belgrade.

Nothing is more important than talks, Vucic said, noting that peace and stability in the region are a prerequisite "for better economy and living standard."

“I see common sense prevailing slowly, but certainly on each side, and that people are aware of the mistakes each of us has made,” Vucic said.

Asked what mistake Bosnian Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic made, Vucic said that it was Izetbegovic who invited him to Srebrenica and guaranteed his security, but "did not even shake hands with him there."

"I am not talking about criminal-legal consequences but about human gestures, I'm not interested in the first, because I know that is the job for the authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina," he added.

Asked whether he expects an efficient investigation, Vucic said that, "as the prime minister, he hopes for that, but as an ordinary man, he is not sure that would actually happen," Tanjug reported.

"If something like that happened to a guest of mine, I would have rished to defend them," said Vucic.

The prime minister also stated that the situation such as this one in Potocari could not have happened to any guest in Serbia, noting that the failure of a British draft resolution in the UN and "the events in relation" to Naser Oric had stirred tensions before the commemoration in Srebrenica.

Open country

Also on Thursday, Aleksandar Vucic was asked to comment on the news that Hungary started building its wall along the border with Serbia in an attempt to prevent migrants from third countries from reaching its territory.

He said that "Serbia responded appropriately and does not want to damage its relations with Hungary."

"Some are fencing themselves in, not Serbia," Vucic told reporters, and added that "Serbia is an open country where everybody is welcome."

"There are almost no borders in Serbia," said he, and added that the country was "safe as far as both Germany and other European countries are concerned."

The migrants, meanwhile, are "received in Serbia in the best possible way," he explained.

"One can only be ashamed of one's own moves, not of those made by others," Vucic said, adding that he will soon travel to Presevo in southern Serbia where a reception center for migrants was recently opened.