At the sitting held on 18 November, the Foreign Affairs Committee completed interviews with newly-appointed ambassadors – standing representative of the Republic of Serbia to UNESCO in Paris Zorica Tomic and Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Cyprus Savo Djurica, before their departure for diplomatic duty.

The sitting was chaired by Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic, Committee Chairman.

Ambassador Tomic stressed that Serbia cooperates with UNESCO in the spheres of culture, education and science and that its priorities in the organisation are the Kosovo-Metohija issue and regional cooperation. She believes that UNESCO is one of the most important global scenes that Serbia can actively join and influence the development of a better image by wise foreign policy actions. Ambassador Tomic stressed that, in addition to the struggle to secure as much funds from UNESCO as possible, it is time for Serbia to give its contribution to the organisation by its projects, ideas and initiatives particularly on the regional level, and so contribute to improving its image.

She informed the Committee members that a National Commission for cooperation with UNESCO has been formed which is expected to receive support from relevant institutions, particularly in the candidacy for regional projects, considering that UNESCO is interested in furthering cooperation with countries of south-eastern Europe.

The new Serbian Ambassador to Cyprus Savo Djurica said that Cyprus is among those states with which Serbia enjoys excellent political relations and in general shares views on important foreign policy issues. Cyprus did not recognise the illegal proclamation of Kosovo-Metohija independence and supports Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union as soon as possible.

Ambassador Djurica stressed that the improvement of economic cooperation between Serbia and Cyprus should receive particular attention in the upcoming period, especially the increase of domestic export and attracting Cypriot investment.

The Committee members endorsed the programmes of the newly-appointed ambassadors and wished them success.

The Committee went on to appoint Jelena Trivan president of the National Assembly’s Friendship Group with the Dutch Parliament and established the composition of the National Assembly’s Friendship Group with the Egyptian National Assembly.

Also, the Committee established the composition of the delegation to meet with the delegation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding, headed by the Association’s Vice-Chairwoman and Vice-Chairwoman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Zhizhen, which shall be the guest of the National Assembly on 26 November. In addition, the Committee accepted the invitation to the International Conference: “1989: the year that changed the world – perspectives of Europe’s future by the protagonists of the change”. The conference shall be held in Bucharest, on 2 and 3 December. They also accepted the invitation to the seminar for women parliamentarians from the region of south-eastern Europe and central Asia, organised by OSCE in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 10 December.

At the sitting, the Foreign Affairs Committee also determined the composition of their delegation to visit Egypt between 7 and 10 December this year.