The gathering was opened by the coordinator of the Women’s Parliamentary Network and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic, saying it was a pleasure to speak about the fulfilment of goals defined by the Women’s Platform for the Development of Serbia, adopted in 2014.

“European integration in itself is not foreign policy, it is an internal policy, a recipe how to change the political system, change and develop the fabric of society the essence of which is the rule of law and values we adhere to in the 21st century. But the decision to start the European integration process is in its core a foreign policy and it bears a women’s mark”, said Comic. She reminded the participants that the first Chairperson of the European Integration Committee, after it was set up in the National Assembly, was a woman. Women have contributed to the adoption of the Resolution on European Union Accession by the National Assembly in 2004. For two mandates the Foreign Policy Committee has been chaired by women, and right now, in the security sector, we have a woman chairing the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee thanks to the dialogue which is changing the approach to the sector, and not the result of gender equality”, concluded Comic. She reminded of the role women play in regional dialogue, especially in the Budva Process – the dialogue between women MPs from Belgrade and Pristina, the role of the Women’s Parliamentary Network where the women MPs have shown that common interest comes before any other interest, and the participation of women in international organisations which contributes to Serbia’s global image, because it bears a women’s, not a personal mark.

The President of the Forum for International Relations of the European Movement in Serbia, Jelica Minic, stressed that today’s roundtable is an opportunity to discuss women’s participation in the creation of Serbia’s foreign policy, especially the role of women parliamentarians and women in the executive. She opined that in today’s Serbia women dominate the European integration process and the goal of today’s gathering is to draw attention to women’s growing role as leaders and leaders of change.

Assistant Minister for European integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marina Jovicevic and Acting Director of the EU Integrations Office of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Ksenija Milenkovic also spoke about Serbia’s European policy and the role women play in it, with a special focus on the opening of the first negotiations chapters.

Dubravka Filipovski, member of the National Assembly’s delegation to the NATO PA, and Jelena Milic, Director of the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies, spoke about the security policy with a special focus on cooperation with NATO, military cooperation with Russia, military cooperation within the South-East Europe and the Western Balkans and cooperation with the UN.

Dubravka Filipovski said that she herself, as a woman MP and member of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, gives a woman’s mark to the Serbian delegation to the NATO PA since she is the only woman in it. She opined that the National Assembly’s delegation to the NATO PA enjoys the highest possible level of cooperation with the organisation since Serbia has been recognised as the factor of stability in the region. Using the mechanisms of the Partnership for Peace programme, NATO respects Serbia’s specificities, and Serbia recognises the role of NATO in the system of regional stability, especially the stability in Kosovo-Metohija. Serbia wants to be a reliable partner to the Alliance in the maintenance of peace in the region, which can benefit from cooperation through the Partnership for Peace and the Serbian Army’s growing participation in multinational operations, political dialogue and the realisation of the signed treaties, said Filipovski.

In the afternoon part of the roundtable, the participants discussed parliamentary cooperation and the role of civil society in Serbia’s foreign policy.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairperson Aleksandra Djurovic and MP and Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the election of judges of the European Court of Human Rights Natasa Vuckovic spoke about parliamentary cooperation at the level of the European Parliament, Council of Europe, stabilisation and accession process in South-East Europe (COSAP) and the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) and their experiences in the process, as well as what women MPs can do to promote parliamentary diplomacy and leave their mark on it.

Aleksandra Joksimovic, Director of the Centre for Social Policy, and Jelena Minic, President of the Forum for International Relations of the European Movement in Serbia, presented the contribution of expert organisations to the analysis of Serbia’s foreign policy, the role of NGOs in the improvement of dialogue and communication with Serbia’s foreign policy partners and the relationship between the NGOs and the media i.e. raising public awareness on international relations and Serbia’s foreign policy.