Nikolic: Africa is our friend, stronger cooperation needed

Nikolic: Africa is our friend, stronger cooperation needed

In a statement following the Summit, Nikolic said on Sunday he was the only president outside Africa at the Summit which was illustrative of a strong friendship between once Yugoslavia, and today - Serbia with African countries.

“As the deputy chairperson of the African Union has said, they will always be capable of preventing constant attempts of Kosovo to appear here in any form with the aim to spread its influence in international organisations,” Nikolic said.

"Delicate stage"

Representatives of Kosovo are willing to implement everything that gives them more powers, but they are not ready to adhere to the deal on the Serb national community, so the talks with Kosovo, and consequently Serbia's entry negotiations with the EU, are at a very delicate stage, Tomislav Nikolic has said.

In an interview to the Ethiopian daily Capital which will be published in its entirety on Monday, he says that Serbia is obliged to work it out with Kosovo before joining the EU, and this, in his opinion, will be very difficult to achieve, because Serbia will never recognize Kosovo - but “can recognize the specificity”.

However, representatives of Kosovo are not ready to implement what they have agreed concerning the Serb national community, its specificity within Kosovo, the president noted.

Migrant crisis

Tomislav Nikolic, who is attending the 26th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, talked with Chairperson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma about the migrant crisis, its consequences and ways to overcome it.

“We do not want to seal our borders, but we do not have enough capacities to take care of all these people,” the president's press office quoted Nikolic as saying, adding that he took great pride in Serbia's conduct in the migrant crisis.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission said: We cannot resolve the issue of the migrant crisis, but we can create jobs. The key thing is to develop industry in African countries.

The Serbian president thanked Zuma for her personal contribution against the admission of the so-called Kosovo to UNESCO.