The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic received today the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Markos Kyprianou, on official visit to Serbia.

Minister Kyprianou conveyed the Cypriot Parliament Speaker’s congratulations to the National Assembly Speaker on her election to the function, wishing for a further strengthening of cooperation and friendship between the two countries and nations.

The Cypriot minister stressed that Cyprus lends full support to Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and is firm in its position that the future status of Kosovo-Metohija must be resolved by an agreement between the two sides and in line with the principles of international law. Therefore, Cyprus will never acknowledge the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija and believes that the European Union must take a neutral position on the issue, because it is an issue on which each country must make its own decision, Kyprianou stressed.

The Cypriot Foreign Minister pointed out that his country supports Serbia on its road to the European Union and believes that it should move faster toward the goal. Therefore, Cyprus supports the immediate implementation of the Transitional Agreement between Serbia and the EU, as well as the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Serbia and the EU as soon as possible.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic thanked Cyprus for its principled support of Serbia in seeking the solution to the two most important issues – preservation of sovereignty and strengthening state and national identity and speedy accession into the EU.

However, she pointed out that the Hague Tribunal’s unprincipledness towards Serbian defendants has a negative influence on the public opinion and makes the fulfillment of the obligations assumed towards the Tribunal difficult.

The need for strengthening and furthering the bilateral cooperation of the two countries, especially the cooperation between the Serbian and Cypriot parliaments was also pointed out during the conversation.