The Head of the Parliamentary Group of Friendship with Cyprus Biljana Pantic Pilja met today with the Ambassador of Cyprus to Serbia H.E. Demetrios Theophylactou to discuss the traditionally good relations between the two countries and deepening of cooperation in a number of fields.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Head of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Cyprus said that the PFG, formed in November of last year, had 48 members, which is twice as many than in the previous legislature. She also took the opportunity to thank Cyprus for its principled position on the issue of Kosovo-Metohija and the absence of support for Pristina's unilateral moves at the multilateral level. Speaking of which, Pilja pointed out that Serbia supports the territorial integrity of Cyprus and the process of finding a solution to the disputed issues of the southern and northern part of the island.
The officials agreed that the interparliamentary cooperation between the two countries is very well-developed, as evidenced by the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Serbian and Cypriot heads of parliament in 2018. They agreed that multilateral cooperation is at an enviable level in several multilateral parliamentary institutions such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
H.E. Demetrios Theophylactou confirmed that the position of Cyprus on the issue of Kosovo-Metohija would not change, which is in line with the national interests of Cyprus itself, and promised that during his mandate in Serbia he would work on expanding economic cooperation as well as cooperation in the field of innovation and technology.
The officials also talked about the intensification of cooperation at the bilateral level and there was mention of cooperation in the field of culture, tourism, military-technical cooperation as well as in the field of science and education.
Pilja opined that since the last meeting of the members of the two parliaments was in Cyprus, it was time for Serbia to reciprocate, when the situation allows it, and in the meantime she would dedicate herself to organizing a meeting between the Ambassador and members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Cyprus.
