Today, at the National Assembly House, a delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia headed by the Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic met a delegation of the Romanian Parliament in a two-day visit to Serbia. The delegation was headed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Romanian Parliament, Bogdan Olteanu. This is the first high-level visit since the National Assembly was constituted.

The delegation of the National Assembly comprised Deputy Speakers Gordana Comic, Judita Popovic, Nikola Novakovic and member of parliament Ion Magda.

During the meeting, the delegations confirmed the traditionally friendly relations between the two countries and expressed an interest in furthering bilateral relations, particularly strengthening parliamentary cooperation. As part of it, they particularly emphasised the need to institutionalise the cooperation especially of parliament speakers, deputy friendship groups, as well as the two parliaments’ working bodies.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Romanian Parliament, Bogdan Olteanu congratulated the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the National Assembly on being elected to the functions and wished them success in their work. He stressed that Romania will lend full support to Serbia on its way to European integrations and offer the experiences from their ten-year efforts on the way to joining the EU. As he pointed out, Romania is also ready to symbolically express its friendship to Serbia by having its parliament be the first to verify the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Serbia and the EU after its ratification at the National Assembly. Concerning it, he also reiterated that his country supports the further extension of the European Union.

Speaker Djukic-Dejanovic informed the guests that a great deal of legislative work awaits the National Assembly and that Romania would be extremely useful as a model for a shorter way to EU integrations considering the friendly and good-neighbourly relations of the two countries.

The Speaker and members of the delegation of the Serbian National Assembly expressed their gratitude to the Romanian Parliament and Government for their principled position concerning Kosovo-Metohija and preserving Serbia’s integration.