Serbian president wraps up official visit to Algeria

Serbian president wraps up official visit to Algeria

The Algerian president presented Nikolic with the National Order of Merit Al Athir.

Nikolic gave Bouteflika the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a sash, granted on February 5 this year.

Previously, representatives of delegations of Serbia and Algeria signed several bilateral agreements in the presence of Nikolic, who is on a three-day official visit to Algeria, and Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.

The documents signed include a program on cooperation in the field of culture between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria for 2016, 2017 and 2018, a protocol of cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a protocol of cooperation between the National Library of Serbia and the National Library of Algeria.

Also signed was a memorandum of understanding in the field of information technology, between Algeria's National Agency for the Promotion and Development of Technology Parks and Science Technology Park Belgrade.

Tomislav Nikolic and Abdelmalek Sellal met on the second day of the Serbian president's official visit to Algiers on Tuesday and the two officials agreed that their countries had done a lot in the development of good relations but there was still room for improvement.

Nikolic said that Serbia had been implementing reforms for four years now and was successful in creating an environment favorable to foreign investment. He stressed that Serbia had numerous comparative advantages, ranging from a favorable geographical position to exceptional workforce.

Sellal said that his country was interested in cooperation in the field of agriculture, defense industry and new technologies, adding that Algeria could help Serbia in the field of energy stability.

Sellal put forward a proposal for Serbia and Algeria to join efforts and focus on projects oriented towards markets of African countries, saying that Africa was a continent on the rise.

On the second day of his visit, Nikolic met with Speaker of the People's National Assembly Mohamed Larbi Ould Khelifa who said that, like Serbia, which was trying to maintain stability in the Balkans, Algeria sought to restore stability in its own region.

Ould Khelifa said that stability and respect for international law were prerequisites for development. Observance of this principle is the basis for Algeria's position not to recognize independence of the so-called "Kosovo," he said.

Nikolic said that when it came to Kosovo and Metohija, support from friends all over the world was very important to Serbia and it was thankful to Algeria for keeping its principled stance.

He pointed to good bilateral cooperation and expressed the hope that the two countries would take advantage of all the potentials that were there and improve economic cooperation, the Serbian president's press office said in a release.

Nikolic, who arrived in Algiers on Monday, was greeted with full military honors and first met with Abdelkader Bensalah, president of the Council of Nation of Algeria, with whom he talked about opportunities to expand bilateral cooperation.

Also on Monday, Nikolic visited the Serbian military cemetery in Algiers and paid homage to fallen Serbian soldiers of World War I.