Today, at the National Assembly House, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, received Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, in official visit to Serbia.

Both sides noted that there is ample room for improvement of parliamentary cooperation, particularly between assembly bodies charged with foreign affairs, European integration, economic issues, culture and science.

The NARS Speaker applauded the formation of a parliamentary group for cooperation with the Serbian Assembly at the Latvian Parliament and informed the Latvian President that a creation of a Parliamentary Friendship Group with Latvia has been initiated at the NARS.

Mentioning that every country has some “homework” to do as part of its European integration process, Zatlers stressed: “We wish to support Serbia’s every step towards full-fledged EU membership so that we can all be part of the big European family which enables free flow of people, goods and capital” and added that “Latvia supports EU expansion to include the Balkans and Turkey”.

Zatlers offered Latvia’s EU accession experience to assist Serbia in overcoming all the obstacles in the process, adding that the Latvian Parliament would without a doubt ratify the SAA with Serbia.

The NARS Speaker conveyed Serbia’s gratitude for Latvia’s positive attitude towards Serbia’s European integration.

Djukic-Dejanovic and Zatlers highlighted the importance of the recent introduction of a regular air route between Belgrade and Riga by the Latvian airline Air Baltic. “Direct flights will enable not only us, the representatives of our respective countries, but investors and tourists to learn how little difference there is between Serbia and Latvia. This will also further the two countries’ economic cooperation”, said Zatlers.