The Head of the PFG with Cyprus thanked Ambassador Eliades for his country’s principled position on Kosovo-Metohija and its support in the discussion on Kosovo’s bid to join UNESCO. She also thanked Cyprus for its support of Serbia’s European integration and appeal to open new negotiating chapters.

Ambassador Eliades urged to intensify parliamentary cooperation between Serbia and Cyprus, a cause aided by the National Assembly Speaker’s recent visit to Cyprus. He reaffirmed that the Cypriot stance on Kosovo-Metohija is clear both on principle and in support of Serbia’s territorial integrity since Cyprus itself is facing a similar problem.

”We will continue to support Serbia’s side of the issue in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as well, we believe that resolving the Kosovo-Metohija issue should not be tied in with Serbia’s path to Europe and these should be two separate processes”, said Eliades.

The Ambassador informed the PFG Head about the Cypriot problem and the state-of-play of the talks with the Turkish side, a process that has been going on for years, accompanied by the constant destruction of Cypriot-Greek cultural treasure, which is why his country is especially sensitive about the destruction of the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo.

PFG Head Biljana Pantic Pilja again thanked Cyprus for its support of Serbia, pushing to step up the cooperation between parliamentary delegations and promote economic cooperation. She said that the Serbian Government is dedicated to its policy of reform, with a special focus on fiscal consolidation, as well as regional cooperation and the process of European integration.

“The National Assembly has passed a series of laws to create a better investment environment and I truly hope that economic cooperation with Cyprus will improve”, said Pilja.

She invited Ambassador Eliades to visit Novi Sad, European Capital of Culture 2021, which is another thing Serbia and Cyprus have in common seeing how the Cypriot city of Paphos was declared Capital of Culture 2017.