The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, received the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, also member of the official Turkish delegation visiting Belgrade today.

The Speaker stressed that the overall relations between Serbia and Turkey are on the rise, but that interparliamentary cooperation should be improved in response to needs of the two countries’ citizens. “Turkish diplomacy is the stabiliser of numerous Balkan issues”, the Speaker added.

Both sides were pleased at the NARS delegation’s active participation in PACE, as well as the fact that a session of the PACE Standing Committee would be held in Belgrade at the beginning of September. According to the NARS Speaker, that would “provide the opportunity to exchange opinions important both for the PACE’s work and the development of interparliamentary communication”.

Djukic-Dejanovic was grateful for PACE’s support of Serbia’s road toward full-fledged EU membership, one of Serbia’s main foreign policy priorities.

Emphasising the priority of keeping the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, the NARS Speaker underlined the extreme importance of transferring the Kosovo-Metohija into the sphere of international law, adding that Serbia would employ all diplomatic and democratic means at its disposal to keep its southern province.

Çavuşoğlu mentioned the resolution recently adopted by PACE which stresses the organisation’s neutral attitude toward the Kosovo-Metohija issue and focuses on the improvement of living conditions of all the citizens living there. This resolution also calls for dialogue between chosen representatives and observation of UN Council Resolution 1244.