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Serbia intends to bolster brotherhood with Russia, says politician

On June 21, in Serbia will hold elections to the parliament and regional and municipal representative bodies

BELGRADE, June 19. /TASS/. In the upcoming political cycle, Serbia intends to strengthen friendly and brotherly ties with Russia, stated Marko Djuric, director for the office of Kosovo and Metohija and the deputy of President Aleksandar Vucic of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, in his exclusive commentary for TASS before the June 21 parliamentary election in the country.

"Serbia intends in the coming years to strengthen friendly and brotherly ties with Russia, yet on the other hand develop relations with countries which haven’t always been friendly to us in the past. Serbia, as a neutral country from a military standpoint, intends in the spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation, to strengthen its positions with its immediate neighbors and then act in a more global sense. The friendship with Russia for us is a constant historical fact that is unchangeable. This is a strategic definition which is based on centuries of cultural, civilizational, and other ties of the Serbian and Russian peoples," the politician stated.

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Serbia will always remember Russia’s help amid pandemic, president Vucic says

"Serbia remains a sincere and loyal friend of the Russian Federation, and we hope that in the future this remains a relationship of reciprocal friendship. Presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Putin invested a lot of personal energy into the development of the relations of our countries, while their personal friendship set the tone of the development of the bilateral relations, and we hope this will continue in the future. Serbia and Russia, besides their similarities based on the historical ties, share many positions in terms of the future of foreign relations, multilateralism, and respect for international law. We possess a solid value foundation for the creation of an even stronger and more productive relationship in the future.I don’t have to remind you about the extent of our gratitude to Russia for is support of the Serbian state and national interests, this kind of help and support is invaluable and demands eternal gratitude," the Serbian politician said.

Answering a question about the internal political priorities of the Serbian Progressive Party (SPP) in the upcoming political cycle, Djuric singled out economic development, peace preservation, and demographic increase as the main trajectories.

"The Serbian Progressive Party" led by Aleksandar Vucic in the upcoming election wants to achieve an absolute majority in the Serbian Parliament in order to have a firm political base to continue the implementation of the program of Serbia’s strategic development. Our strategic priorities are the preservation of peace and stability, the defense of sovereignty and independence in decision-making, economic development, the demographic renewal of Serbia and the preservation of Serbian culture and traditions, that is, the preservation of the memory of significant events of the past which allows us to set a clear foundation of identity for future actions.

The precise goals of our policy are listed in the plan Serbia-2025 which, if implemented, would transform Serbia. President Vucic as a state-minded person, thinking about the future of the country for 20-30 years ahead, brought to the political stage the practice of estimating political success through economic parameters and in this regard the rule of SPP was unambiguously the most successful over the past several decades," said the senator.

"Economics, industrial growth, GDP growth, the opening of new factories, infrastructure construction are the focus of our attention, since only by means of Serbia’s economic strengthening may we get a chance to achieve other goals of our party. Thus, we are not talking about the party’s priorities in the narrow sense yet about the multifaceted program of development and rebirth of Serbia around which we would like to unite the critical mass of the country’s population," concluded the Vice-President of the ruling party.

Election in Serbia

On June 21, in Serbia will hold elections to the parliament and regional and municipal representative bodies. That said, 21 political parties are vying for 250 spots in a single-chamber parliament. The voting will be held at over 8,000 voting stations.

According to the data of the public opinion agency Factor Plus, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party may gain 58.2% in the election, while second place is held by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) led by Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic with 12.5%. According to the polls, several other parties also have a chance of getting into parliament.

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