Macedonian and Serbian cabinets hold joint session

Macedonian and Serbian cabinets hold joint session

The two cabinets "discussed ways to improve cooperation between the two countries, focusing primarily on the economy," Tanjug said.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference afterwards that the second joint meeting of the two governments was "much more successful than the first one in Belgrade in 2013."

“Not only have we ended up with the seven agreements, but we also got a lot of projects to bring to completion, some of them this year and some in 2016. We managed to find common interests in all spheres of society,” said Vucic.

Vucic said that the meeting discussed ways to complete the Corridor 10 construction by September 2016, the construction of 400-kV power line between Nis and Stip, which he said could be opened in December of the current year, the construction of a gas inter-connection between Vranje and Kumanovo, and building railroads to Greece.

"We also talked about opening joint diplomatic and consular missions in some countries and about joint procurement of vaccines," Vucic said.

Commenting on the Macedonian government’s efforts to implement reforms in the country, Vucic said that the Serbian government highly respected the work of their colleagues in Macedonia.

“We have a lot to learn from our Macedonian friends,” Vucic said.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said that the visit by the Serbian delegation was proof of a high level of relations between the two countries, which he said was a good basis for economic cooperation and prosperity aspired to by both Macedonia and Serbia.

One of the topics discussed was European integration, and Gruevski said that Serbia and Macedonia had to work hard on strengthening dialogue, closing the issues of the past, respecting the principles of international law, strengthening good neighborly relations, easing the effects of the global economic crisis and implementing joint projects to help create new jobs.

"We had a constructive and productive meeting of the two governments and I expect that these agreements will be a new economic plus in the best interests of both countries," Gruevski said in conclusion. Representatives of the two countries' governments signed agreements on economic cooperation, cooperation in tourism, cooperation in science, education and technology, cooperation in the field of sustainable development and environmental protection, cooperation in the field of culture, an agreement on establishing border procedures for the Tabanovce-Presevo rail border crossing and a plan for the holding of consultations between the Serbian and Macedonian Foreign Ministries in the period 2015-2016.

The Serbian government’s delegation, headed by the prime minister, included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic.

Also in the delegation were Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, Economy Minister Zeljko Sertic, Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic, Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar, Minister of Agriculture Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Srdjan Verbic and Culture Minister Ivan Tasovac.