The Head of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Spain, Balint Pasztor, reaffirmed what he had said at the previous meeting with the Spanish Ambassador to Serbia – that Serbia and Spain are friendly countries. He again thanked the Kingdom of Spain for its support of Serbia’s efforts to maintain territorial integrity, help in its EU accession process and the assistance in the recent disastrous floods in Serbia. Pasztor opined that the Parliamentary Friendship Group could be tasked with improving parliamentary cooperation between Serbia and Spain. He hopes that a Programme of Cooperation in the spheres of education, culture, youth and sport for the period leading up to 2017 might soon be signed so as to further cultural and educational cooperation.
The Head of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Spain also suggested organising events once or twice a year throughout Serbia to promote Spain’s cultural and other values, which Ambassador Beltrán was only too happy to hear.
The Ambassador agreed that there is both opportunity and need to further interparliamentary as well as cultural cooperation. The Ambassador opined that Serbia was a key factor for the maintenance of stability not only of the region, but of Europe itself, adding that that was one of the reasons why Spain wanted to further strengthen the already firm relations with Serbia.
Speaking of Serbia’s chairmanship of the OSCE next year, the Ambassador opined that Serbia and Spain would also be able to cooperate within the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The Ambassador said that in addition to the two countries’ bilateral relations, Spain can also offer help and support Serbia on the parliamentary level in the Euro-integration process.
In the course of the meeting the members of the PFG with Spain stressed that the Government and the National Assembly are focused on creating an environment more conducive to foreign investment, saying they hoped Spanish companies would come and invest into Serbia. With the Ambassador, they also discussed the potential for improving cooperation between the two countries in the spheres of culture, education, tourism, agriculture and healthcare.
PFG members Tanja Tomasevic Damnjanovic, Aleksandra Maletic, Milan Novakovic, Dr Ljubica Mrdakovic Todorovic, Mirko Cikiriz, Adriana Anastasov, Dr Gordana Zoric, Ljibuska Lakatos, Svetislav Vukmirica, Dr Violeta Lutovac, Prof. Dr Ljubisa Stojmirovic and Olivera Pauljeskic took part in the meeting and the discussion.