Serbia and Russia, "friends on rational grounds"

Serbia and Russia, "friends on rational grounds"

"We think we've shown our sincere and friendly relationship toward the Russian Federation in remaining one of the European countries which - despite numerous demands of the whole world - which has not introduced any sanctions. Serbia will continue with this policy in the future," Vucic said at a joint news conference after his meeting with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Vucic also that his visit to Moscow will give a new impetus to cooperation between the two countries and thanked Russia for its support in UNESCO, as well as for the help in protecting Serbian interests in the UN Security Council.

Vucic invited Medvedev to visit Serbia during 2016.

The prime ministers today sent a message that the two countries intend to work on finding new routes for gas deliveries, while Vucic pointed out that Serbia's debt to Gazprom will be settled before the deadline.

"Serbia will pay all debts to Gazprom sooner than planned, which is an indicator of our economic progress because we want to continue our relations on a responsible basis," Vucic said.

He added that he believes there will soon be agreement on expanding the gas storage facility of Banatski Dvor in Serbia to a billion cubic meters, and on building a new one in Banatski Itebej.

"Then we would be a giant when it comes to gas storage, and I think after that we would never have problems related to whether gas can reach Serbia or not," Vucic said.

The Serbian prime minister "reiterated that Serbia and Russia are traditional friends and invited Medvedev to pay an official visit to Belgrade, that should take place next year," reports said on Tuesday.

According to him, the meeting also discussed the continuation of cooperation in the field of agriculture, defense, and economic issues.

"I am convinced that Serbia and Russia will remain friends, but also that we will manage to build even better relations in the interests of both countries on rational grounds," said Vucic.

According to him, another topic of discussion was "how to improve the situation in Serbia in order to increase exports to Russia, which normally has a large deficit due to the large amount of energy that Serbia imports from that country."

He also said that he hoped Serbia will be able to export more agricultural products to Russia and thus occupy as much of the Russian market as possible.

Medvedev said that Serbia has its share on the Russian market and that his country's imports from Serbia increased by 40 percent in six months.

He told reporters that energy is the best example of cooperation between Russia and Serbia in large infrastructural projects, and added to the NIS, which is a Russian-Serbian company, should be developed into a regional leader.

Medvedev confirmed that talks between the two sides are moving in the direction of solving the issue Serbia's gas debt.

"We continue to work to secure gas supplies and to find new routes for the delivery of that fuel after the termination of the South Stream project," Medvedev said.

The Russian prime minister also said that his talks with Vucic were "successful and friendly."

"It characterizes relations between our two countries, their history, and I hope also the perspective," concluded Medvedev, adding that he believes all eight agreements signed today in Moscow will be realized.