The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic received today the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Portugal, Nuno Severiano Teixeira, with whom she spoke of furthering bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Teixeira conveyed Portugal’s position that Serbia is of great significance for the stability and safety of the region, which is why the Portuguese side has offered Serbia a cooperation agreement in the field of defense which will regulate various issues from this area to their mutual benefit. He also conveyed his country’s position that Serbia belongs in Europe and that Serbia can count on friendly Portugal’s support on its path of accession to the European Union.

The Portuguese Defense Minister pointed out the importance of the parliament’s role in the European integration process and was interested how the difficulties in the National Assembly’s operations will be overcome.

Expressing her belief that there is great potential for improving overall bilateral cooperation between Serbia and Portugal, Assembly Speaker Djukic-Dejanovic stressed that the recently renewed cooperation of the two countries’ parliaments will contribute to it. She said that cooperation in the field of defense could also be realized on the level of the committees in charge.

Assembly Speaker Djukic-Dejanovic said that in order to achieve efficiency in the work of the National Assembly it is important to modify its Rules of Procedure.