Zoran Antic, the Head of the Parliamentary Friendship Group, greeted the Cypriot Ambassador who had come to the first, constituting sitting of the Parliamentary Friendship Group and thanked her for the Cypriot support of Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union. He mentioned the friendly relations between the Cypriot and Serbian people and the two countries’ similarities, as well as the possibility to raise the level of bilateral and especially economic relations.
The Cypriot Ambassador was pleased at Serbia’s commitment to European integration, adding that, during its presidency of the EU, Cyprus gave full support to Serbia’s Euro-integration. She opined that Serbia deserves to be given a date for the commencement of negotiations on European Union membership in June.
Speaking of Kosovo, Ambassador Krousti stressed that Cyprus is consistent in its support of Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. She repeated the principled position of Cyprus - that it did not recognise the independence of Kosovo, adding that her country is one of five EU members who did not recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija.
She reminded that the two countries’ relations have persevered in the past and that the two people share full understanding and similarities especially as regards enclave problems and the destruction of religious heritage in the occupied part of Cyprus and in Kosovo-Metohija.
In the course of the meeting, the members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Cyprus, Srdjan Mikovic, Donka Banovic, Prof. Dr Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic and Dragan Colic expressed their expectation that the Parliamentary Friendship Group’s activity would contribute toward the further development of relations between Serbia and Cyprus and stressed that they were open and ready for initiatives aimed toward strengthening parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.