Starović: Serbia is ready and determined to continue its European path

Starović said that membership in the European Union is a strategic commitment and a priority of Serbia's foreign policy, emphasizing that our country is ready and determined to continue its European path.

The State Secretary said that Serbia wants to be the best possible, reliable partner of the European Union in the process of reforms in all social areas, that it is open to criticism, but also that it expects the successes it achieves to be objectively evaluated.

He underlined that our country sincerely believes in the cooperation and support of European partners, and especially pointed out the importance of regional cooperation, which, as he emphasized, is not a substitute for European integration, but only an upgrade of that process.

"Our country wants and strives to contribute to building a European project – through economic growth and prosperity, by preserving peace, promoting a positive agenda and dialogue, but also by initiating ideas and proposals for creating additional connections and conditions for a better life in Serbia and the neighborhood. That is the reason why the leadership of Serbia is committed to the realization of the ​​mini Schengen idea", said Starović.

He added that our country highly respects the positive message of Slovenia that the region will be one of the priorities during its presidency of the Council of the European Union.

"I remind you that our side is currently ready to open six chapters for which we have submitted negotiating positions, which we conveyed to our European interlocutors at yesterday's Intergovernmental Conference with Serbia. We are also ready to open two negotiating clusters, which would put the new methodology into practice", said Starović.

Speaking about the contribution and measures of Serbia in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Starović especially pointed out sending shipments of vaccines to neighbors in the region and enabling the vaccination in Serbia.

"Serbia has sent 240,000 vaccines to the region so far, and has vaccinated about 190,000 citizens of countries in the region on its territory, which means that we have provided a total of about 430,000 vaccines for our neighbors", said the state secretary.

Starović concluded his presentation by saying that today's gathering confirms the joint commitment to strengthening the regional multilateral framework of cooperation.