Dr Vladimir Orlic pointed out that Serbia and Iran have a long tradition of friendly relations, reflected in the mutual support in international forums.

"I do not have to stress how important it is for us to have strong, principled support in that area, manifested in your country’s decision not to recognize the illegitimate self-proclaimed independence of so-called Kosovo", Orlic said.

He emphasised the importance of parliamentary cooperation, which can be extremely effective in the relationship between the two countries, because both parliaments have parliamentary friendship groups, Iran with Serbia and Serbia with Iran. Orlic believes that there is room for improving cooperation in the field of culture and education, and especially agriculture, which the Iranian Ambassador agreed with, emphasising that Iran imports 17% of its seeds from Serbia. The Ambassador said that Iran is a large market pointing out that by adopting the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Field of Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine and plant quarantine, Serbia confirmed that it recognizes the potential of this market.

Speaking of the friendly relations between the two countries, Ambassador Pour Baei expressed hope that the two parliaments would intensify cooperation. The first opportunity for it could be the visit of a delegation of the Iranian Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, as well as a chance for additional negotiations in the field of agriculture and at the non-parliamentary level.

The Ambassador especially emphasised the importance of a possible visit by President Aleksandar Vucic to Iran, hoping that the epidemiological situation would soon allow for more intensive exchange of visits.

During the meeting, the officials agreed that it is necessary to establish direct banking cooperation between the two countries, to resolve the issue of payment transactions, as these are a precondition for all other types of cooperation. They also spoke about to the epidemiological situation, and Orlic stated that Serbia is among the leading countries in Europe in terms of the number of vaccinated citizens. He stressed that Serbia being the only country in Europe with such results is thanks to President Aleksandar Vucic and the Government’s policy of cooperation and openness which gave it the opportunity to import COVID vaccines from all parts of the world. Ambassador Pour Baei agreed with this and praised the results of Serbia’s international policy that led to successful vaccination, adding that Iran was in the last phase of testing the domestically produced vaccine, which the National Assembly Deputy Speaker congratulated him on, saying that Serbia too was on the way to domestic vaccine production.