"We mustn't spoil relations with friends on account of EU"

"We mustn't spoil relations with friends on account of EU"

"You know we want to move toward the EU, but you also know there are many problems there, especially EU's conditioning that is fairly unpredictable to us, it often changes and very often concerns our most painful spot, and that is Kosovo, in other words, our territorial integrity and sovereignty," Dacic told a reception organized at the Serbian Consulate in Toronto.

The minister also said it was important for his country "to find as many friends in the world as possible, but also to keep the friends it has."

"That means we must not, on account of the path toward the EU, spoil our relations with our traditional friends, such as Russia and China, because they support us in the UN when it comes to Kosovo," Dacic added.

As for Serbia's ties with Canada, he said it was important to establish "as good as possible relations, reach some agreements, among them that related to air traffic, but also talk a little about the fairly restrictive policy toward Serbian citizens who wish to travel to Canada."

"During this visit, we will talk about relaxing the visa regime, but also about economic cooperation, because there are many Canadian companies interested in doing business in Serbia, especially in the mining and energy sectors," said Dacic.

He also expects that dialogue between the two countries will become regular in the coming years, and that his visit, which is taking place November 12-15, will be a good opportunity to "restart" relations with Canada.

Dacic said another reason why Serbia's ties with Canada are important - apart from it being "a big country" - is the fact "a large number" of Serbians live there.

According to official data there are 70,000 Serbians in Canada, but Dacic is certain the number is "at least double that."

According to announcements late last week Dacic's meeting in Canada include chairs of both houses of parliament, Speaker of the Upper House of the Parliament of Canada George Furey and Speaker of the House of Commons Geoff Regan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion, as well as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum.

During his stay in Ottawa and Toronto, Dacic will have the opportunity to talk with members of the Serbian community in Canada, the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.