The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, met today in Belgrade with the Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Serbia and Montenegro, Christos Panagopoulos.

Mr Panagopoulos acquainted Mr Markovic with diplomatic activities undertaken so far, and underlined that his work would continue the tradition of friendship between the two countries. One of the priorities of the Greek government and people is the accession of Serbia and Montenegro to the European Union. Taking geopolitical reasons into account as well, Greece will continue to champion Serbia and Montenegro’s accession to Euro-Atlantic integrations. Mr Panagopoulos also stressed the role of Greek investors in Serbia’s economic development, and their significant contribution to the development of the banking, telecommunications and commercial sectors of Serbia’s economy.

Mr Markovic said that the traditionally friendly relations between the two countries were also reflected in symbolic gestures, reiterating that it was exactly one year to the day that Serbia re-adopted its national symbols, its coat-of-arms, anthem, and flag, as well as that Serbia’s anthem was performed for the first time outside Serbia on the Greek island of Corfu. Mr Markovic expressed his conviction that the National Assembly would do all in its power to ensure that economic co-operation between the two countries continues unimpeded, quoting as an example the adoption of legislation to enable and facilitate Greek investments in Serbia and Montenegro. Mr Markovic underlined that the Serbian Assembly would do its share of the work necessary for relaxing criteria for issuing Schengen EU visas, of for abolishing visa requirements altogether for Serbia and Montenegro nationals.