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Russia’s Lavrov to hold talks with Serbian FM

The ministers are going to discuss joint projects in trade and investment
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Alexander Scherbak/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Alexander Scherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to hold talks in Moscow on Friday with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic for a review of Russian-Serbian relations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier the two ministers would proceed from the agreement reached at the meetings between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tomislav Nikolic on March 10, 2016, and with Serbia’s Prime Minister Alexander Vucic on October 29, 2015 in the process of discussing bilateral relations.

Specifically, the ministers are going to discuss joint projects in trade and investment, Russian Foreign Ministry sources said.

In addition, Lavrov and Dacic also plan to discuss collaboration between Moscow and Belgrade in the international arena. Russian Foreign Ministry officials note in this connection Serbia’s refusal to join the EU sanctions against Russia and the balanced position the authorities in Belgrade have taken on the crisis in Ukraine.

Russian diplomats also emphasize the closeness of both countries’ positions regarding the inadmissibility of the attempts to revise historic events and particularly the events of World War II.

On Thursday, March 31, Dacic had a range of meetings in Moscow and the scope of his interlocutors included, among others, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Rogozin made public the forthcoming agreement between the state corporation Rostech and the Serbian government on supplies of automobile spare parts, adding that the document could be signed within the coming two to three weeks.

Also, the sides considered supplies of Serbian foodstuffs to Russia and an intergovernmental agreement on the terms for the functioning of a Russian-Serbian humanitarian center in Nis.

"We think the signing of this agreement should be stepped up so that we could turn the center in Nis exactly into what it was designed for, that is, humanitarian operation, including the ones under the auspices of the UN," Rogozin said.

As Dacic met with Sergey Shoigu, they looked at the prospects for the international community’s engagement in the operation to clear the Syrian historic site of Palmyra that was rescued from the militants of the Islamic State terrorist grouping recently.

"In the past, we have done mine-clearing in Serbia and we continue these activities now as well," Shoigu said. "We offer third countries to join the humanitarian center in Nis," he said. "Now there are fair opportunities for this.".