Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stressed that his country’s friendly relations with Turkey provide an additional guarantee to maintain peace and stability in the Western Balkans.
This came in statements he made to the Serbian News Agency, after his meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Istanbul on Saturday.
Vucic said that the meeting, which lasted about two hours, was very fruitful.
“Friendly relations with Turkey provide an additional guarantee to maintain peace and stability in the Western Balkans,” he added.
“We discussed the economy, Turkish investments in Serbia, regional and bilateral cooperation. Turkey is a great power in the region,” he explained.
Vucic noted that President Erdogan will visit Serbia before the end of this year.
And he indicated that they also discussed the issue of citizens crossing the borders of the two countries with the easiest and least documents, adding: “This will push the friendly relations a step forward.”
He explained that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to 1.3 billion euros last year.
He continued, “We aim to raise the volume of trade exchange to two billion euros in a very short time.”
He added that relations with Turkey are better than they were 20 years ago, and could be much better.
He stressed that the presence of Turkish companies operating in many Serbian cities is very important.
He indicated that the Turkish president supports dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, saying: “Erdogan also supports a compromise solution. My meetings with Erdogan are always very fruitful.”
Earlier on Saturday, Presidents Erdogan and Vucic met in Istanbul.
The closed meeting took place at Wahideddin Palace in the Asian side of Istanbul.
