UNITED NATIONS, September 24. /TASS/. Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s debate, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic thanked Russia for help in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic in the country.
"I have to say many thanks to our European partners, to our Chinese friends, and to our Russian friends as well," the Serbian president said.
He also expressed gratitude to the World Health Organization, adding that Serbia had also provided assistance to other countries.
The Serbian president said his country was proud of its special relations with China and Russia.
"Full membership to the European Union is a foreign policy priority of the Republic of Serbia," the Serbian leader said. "However, our European path does not exclude commitment to development of cooperation and deepening relations with countries from all regions."
"We cherish partnership relations with the Western countries, including more intensive cooperation with the USA, but at the same time we are proud of exceptional relations with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China," he added. "And, as you can see, we don’t hide that, we are very proud of our friendships."
Serbia requested Russia’s aid in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. On April 3-4, the Russian Aerospace Forces’ planes delivered to Serbia 87 Russian servicemen, including military medics, virologists, radiation, chemical and biological protection specialists, as well as special medical equipment, protection gear and sixteen military vehicles.
Between April 3 and May 18, Russian units conducted full sanitary efforts at social facilities in more than 40 Serbian cities and towns. Over 376 buildings with a total area of 1.685 million square meters and about 500 km of motorways and roads were disinfected. Eight medical teams examined and treated 881 novel coronavirus patients.