"Serbia will succeed if it doesn't take sides"

"Serbia will succeed if it doesn't take sides"

According to him, "Serbia is attracting investors from around the world, has access to duty free markets almost everywhere, wants to get rid of the huge burden of unemployment, as well as to strive to become a modern, well ordered European country."

"And we will succeed in that. Some are asking us to choose sides to succeed, and in fact, we will succeed if we don't. Serbia may change its leadership but friendships and history cannot be changed, while the future can," Nikolic said, according to a Tanjug report.

He added that Serbia, "when thinking about the future, must also think about the past," and that the country was now facing "crucial moments."

"The government undertook harsh austerity measures. Citizens understand that it was necessary and that it had to be done, but I expect results from it," Nikolic said.

He added that Cuba has made advances in the production of drugs, biogenetic engineering and molecular biology, and that Serbia and Cuba "could produce medicines together."

"We could be Cuba's foothold in Europe. The Belgrade Airport can be opened for all flights to Havana and all flights to Cuba would go via Belgrade," Nikolic said.

The Serbian president praised the friendship between the two countries as "indelible."

"We will be able to preserve friendships both in the east and in the west, and we told them - you have had a fight, but you will also make up. We don't want you to ask us what we were with you, and not with them. It would be better if we asked you, 'why were you fighting'," Nikolic said.

Answering questions from journalists, Nikolic stated that sanctions against Cuba were actually sanctions against its people, and that he was happy Cuba now talks with the United States, but added he was aware that "conditions difficult to achieve will be placed before it."

"America will raise the issue of the economic system, democracy, multi-party system... They do this around the world. But there are two Communist parties in the world successfully leading their people - those of Cuba and China, and they did not make the mistake we made, to remove the state from the economy," the Serbian president said.

He explained that the state "needs the money to help the poor, education, health care, judiciary, army, police."

"But for that reason it must know what the economy is doing. Everywhere the state has an influence on the economy. A multi-party system cannot be introduced by force, and in particular it cannot be easily introduced in those countries that need the unity of the nation. If Cuba did not have the unity of the people it would not have lasted this long under sanctions. If parties argued among themselves, it would not have withstood," concluded Nikolic.