British minister: Serbs should participate in elections

British minister: Serbs should participate in elections

Lidington voiced the opinion that the Serbs should participate in the upcoming Kosovo elections in order to achieve democratic legitimacy and the capacity to engage with the international community, the president's press service released.

"We have a great responsibility to the international community but primarily to the Serbs in the province. We will never abandon them,” said Nikolić, adding that the elections for the Kosovo parliament pose a major challenge.

Lidington noted that Serbia made an incredibly fast progress towards the European Union and achieved much in the dialogue with Priština, and Nikolić said that Serbia is rapidly progressing towards full EU membership and working on the normalization of relations with Priština.

"We are strongly committed to the European path, primarily so that the citizens of Serbia would have a better life in a well-regulated state,” Serbian president stressed, adding that, unfortunately, many of the EU rules have not been properly implemented and that the European Union has in a way been blamed for this.

One of those bad examples is the plundering privatization that devastated Serbian economy and left a great number of people jobless, Nikolić pointed out.

Commenting on the catastrophic floods that hit Serbia, Nikolić emphasized that Great Britain's assistance in supporting the flood relief efforts is highly appreciated.

"I have launched an initiative to organize an international donor conference and the president of France has accepted to host it. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he will invite UN member states to participate and it would mean very much to us if Great Britain would join in,” said Nikolić.

The people and the government of Serbia made a tremendous effort to save human lives and property, but we need international help to clean up the ground and rebuild the devastated economy, infrastructure and torn down and damaged buildings, he added.

Lidington stressed that the public is shocked by the scale of the disaster in Serbia and expressed admiration for the Serbian people for their courage in such difficult times.

Great Britain has helped in a practical way and the public will be informed about the aid in vehicles to be delivered via Red Cross, Lidington told Nikolić.

Britain will confer with the French colleagues on the way to join the initiative to help Serbia, he said.

The long-standing and traditional friendship between Serbia and Great Britain should be renewed and stronger bilateral cooperation established, in the interest of both countries, the two officials agreed.

Lidington also met Serbian First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić.

Vučić said during the meeting that Serbia is about to adopt a set of reform laws that will be crucial for the strengthening of its economy.

A stronger presence of British investors would contribute to a faster implementation of economic reforms in Serbia, noted Vučić.

Lidington expressed sympathy for the victims of floods that have hit Serbia mid last month and said that Great Britain plans to send several vehicles for the needs of Red Cross in addition to the aid it provided so far.

He reiterated that Britain is ready to help Serbia's economic recovery as well, Serbian government's press office stated in a release.

Vučić and Lidington also talked about the two countries' bilateral relations, which they described as good, and the approaching elections in Kosovo-Metohija.

In the context of regional cooperation, Lidington commended Vučić's visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, his first official visit in the capacity of Prime Minister.

Lidington also visited the Red Cross to announce new technical assistance of the British government to the flood-affected areas, British embassy posted on Twitter.