Opinions & Interviews

“Belarus would like to establish long-term ties with Serbia. We are interested in mutually beneficial projects such as the establishment of international holding companies, joint production of automotive and agricultural equipment. We would like to supply Serbia with Belarusian trucks, agricultural, mining, and passenger vehicles, and strengthen cooperation in agriculture. We are interested in the development of ties in the pharmaceutics and many other areas,” Andrei Kobyakov noted.

According to him, Belarus attaches great importance to the development of relations with Serbia, and welcomes the dialogue between the two countries at the highest level. “We would like to assure you that for our part we will do everything in order to not only maintain the high level of relations but also to raise them to a higher level,” said the Belarusian head of government.

He stressed that recently Belarus and Serbia have noticeably intensified trade and economic cooperation. “Despite the fact that the trade in our region, especially in the CIS, is declining, the Belarus-Serbia trade and economic turnover has been growing,” Andrei Kobyakov explained. According to him, this is facilitated by the well-developed legal framework of cooperation, the main element of which is an intergovernmental agreement on free trade zone. “Serbia is the only country outside the CIS with which Belarus has a free trade agreement,” he said.

Andrei Kobyakov voiced hope that the active Belarusian-Serbian cooperation will be continued, and mutually beneficial contacts between countries strengthened. “I would like to take this opportunity to convey greetings to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and to confirm the invitation that we have sent to visit Belarus at any convenient time,” he said.

For his part, Zeljko Sertic thanked the Belarusian side for the warm welcome and constructive dialogue.