MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic are expected to hold talks in Moscow on Tuesdaywhere they will take pressing issues of bilateral trade, including joint projects in the energy sector, industries, transport, and agriculture, a report at the Russian government’s website said.
A number of bilateral documents will be said upon the end of the talks.
On Wednesday, October 28, Medvedev and Vucic will visit the Open Innovations forum and technology show where they will attend a plenary session titled ‘Man at the Crossroads of Technological Revolution Trends’.
Earlier reports said Dmitry Medvedev’s invitation to visit Russia was conveyed to Vucic in April by the Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Chepurin. Vucic made the previous visit to Russia on July 7-8, 2014.
Although no details of the forthcoming talks have been revealed so far, Ambassador Chepurin this is by no means a trivial regular like many others. He told reporters in Belgrade the two ministers will make accent on economic issues.
"The Serbian delegation includes several ministers supervising the economy," he said. "The issues that can be lucrative for both countries can be discussed."
"The main purpose of the visit is an all-embracing review of Russian-Serbian relations," the press service of the Russian government said. It noted the Serbian government’s commitment to the agreement aiming to build up bilateral cooperation and promote large joint projects. -0-kle
Russia’s Federal Customs Service says Russian-Serbian trade reached $ 2.1 billion in 2014 and this is 7.6% more than in the previous year.
"This is an important indicator that testifies to the quality of collaboration between Russia and Serbia even in the conditions of a highly complicated state of international markets," a government expert said.
"The tendency changed in 2015, particularly due to volatility of currency exchange rates and prices for natural resources including oil, gas and other energy carriers," he said. "In the first six months of this year, bilateral trade shrank 27.09%."
Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade says, in the meantime, Russian investment exceeded 3.9 billion had been accumulated in Serbia before the end of 2014.
Alexander Vucic told reporters on the eve of the visit supplies of Russian weaponry would be one of the items on the agenda of his discussions with Russian officials. "When we manufacture the Nora howitzers, we need the chassis from a Kamaz heavy-duty trucks because the can carry payloads of more than 35 tons and that’s one of the reasons for our discussions with the Russians."
"Item number two is the 242 gun, which we put on the dome of the Lazar armored carrier," Vucic said.
He recalled that Serbia has placed an order for two transport helicopters in Russia. "And now we’re mulling a purchase of combat helicopters," he said.
Supplies of natural gas to Serbia also occupy an important place on the bilateral agenda.
"Belgrade confirms its plans to join the implementation of existing multilateral projects," a Russian government expert said.