At the sitting held on 12 November, the Foreign Affairs Committee determined the composition of friendship groups with 43 countries and five regions. The friendship groups for cooperation with certain countries and regions have been formed based on the proposal of the deputy groups at the National Assembly and contain between 10 and 15 members. The presidents of the friendship groups will be determined at the meeting between Deputy Groups’ Heads and the National Assembly Speaker.

At the sitting, the Committee discussed and concluded that there are no objections to text of the Framework Partnership Agreement between the National Assembly of the Republic of Hungary and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, with a correction to article 7 of the agreement, specifying that in the bilateral relations of the two parliaments special attention will be paid to regional and transborder cooperation. The Committee also accepted the suggestion that the Serbian text of the agreement needs technical editing.

In the discussion of the document it was said that it institutionalises the already good cooperation existing between the parliaments of the two countries in recent years and encourages bilateral, especially economic cooperation. In addition, considering that the European Union insists on regional cooperation, this agreement will ensure that, when it gains the status of candidate for EU membership, Serbia can also use the means from the EU development funds.

However, estimates that signing this framework agreement cannot be a priority of Serbia’s foreign policy have also been voiced, considering that Hungary recognised the self-declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija.

The Committee accepted invitations for the Serbian National Assembly’s Permanent Delegation at the NATO PA to participate in the Conference “Peace and Disarmament: World Without Nuclear Weapons”, held in Brussels, on 9 December and the annual Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum organised by NATO PA in cooperation with the USA Atlantic Council and National Defense University, in Washington, on 15 and 16 December of this year.

The sitting was chaired by Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic, Committee Chairman.