Gojkovic praised the two countries’ relations’ ongoing upward trend, as evidenced by the recent visit of the Austrian President, closely followed by a visit of the Prime Minister and now Head of Parliament.

The Austrian Head of Parliament said that his visit attests to Austria’s interest in maintaining friendly relations with Serbia, stressing that political relations, significantly intensified in recent years, are maintained at all levels. Sobotka said that the two countries also enjoy good economic relations and that Austrian companies are the second biggest investor into Serbia.

Gojkovic said that Sobotka’s visit also greatly contributes to expanding parliamentary cooperation and that it would be good to exchange experiences with the Austrian Parliament, especially in view of the National Assembly’s role in the European integration process such as the harmonization of national legislation with the EU acquis.

Gojkovic and Sobotka agreed to flesh out parliamentary cooperation with a project wherein the National Assembly’s administration would learn about the how the Austrian Parliament functions, as well as a rule of law and public outreach project to be co-conducted with the civil society.

Gojkovic thanked Austria for its support of Serbia’s Euro-integration saying it is very encouraging for the country’s and the whole region’s integration process that Austria’s has included stability in the EU neighbourhood i.e. support of EU enlargement, and in that context achieving tangible progress in Euro-integration of the region, into the priorities of its Presidency of the EU Council.

Gojkovic said she hoped the pace of the talks would pick up speed by opening more chapters, that the new chapters would be opened in December since Serbia is ready to open seven of them, and that the enlargement policy would overcome the internal challenges the EU is faced with.

Sobotka said that the Western Balkans’ EU accession is a very important topic on the Austrian Presidency’s agenda and the Austrian Parliament had asked that this be the focus not only during Austria’s Presidency but afterwards as well to show that the long-term peace and stability of Europe hinges on the Western Balkans’ joining the European community and finding their way there.

Speaking of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Gojkovic said that the Community of Serb Municipalities is yet to be established, also mentioning Pristina’s unilateral and illegitimate measure of imposing an additional 10% tax on goods from central Serbia and saying that Belgrade is ready to talk and find a compromise solution, but the other sides needs to be motivated too in order for any agreement to be reached.

The two heads of parliament talked about improving economic cooperation and the role the parliament plays in it by providing a good legislative basis for that cooperation. Sobotka congratulated Serbia on its economic growth and results, while Gojkovic said that Austria is one of Serbia’s most important economic partners seeing how more that 850 of Austrian companies operate in the country, employing more than 20,000 people. The officials also agreed that the volume of trade has gone up and will by the end of 2018 exceed one billion EUR.

Gojkovic and Sobotka said that the two countries are connected by the Danube, the river their respective capitals lay on, as well as the Serbian community in Austria which is an important element of their friendship and which has managed to preserve its culture, roots and ties with the motherland, at the same time managing to successfully integrate into the Austrian society.