Djuric: Gov't continues to transform Serbia vigorously

BELGRADE - Commenting on the Serbian government's first hundred days in office, FM Marko Djuric said on Monday the cabinet continued to transform the country with enormous vigour when it comes to the economy, defence and institutions.

The government is achieving good results, Djuric told Tanjug.

"Just take a look at the economy, infrastructure, security and the foreign policy position. When it comes to the MFA, in the first 100 days we began an activity that I would say was unprecedented in terms of intensity - I took part in as many as six major international summits, with over a hundred different bilateral meetings. In the first month alone, led by President (Aleksandar) Vucic, we had an epic fight for Serbia in the UN over the Srebrenica issue and against an attempt to negatively stigmatise our people, and we succeeded in that, and we had an epic fight regarding the Council of Europe and Pristina's attempt to join," he said.

He said several foreign top officials had visited Serbia.

"President Vucic hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping while, at ministerial level, I hosted several of my colleagues here in Belgrade and paid bilateral visits to Hungary, Italy, Cyprus and Latvia. We continue with full steam ahead and continue to give new strength to the way Serbia is presenting itself in the world," he said.

Djuric said that, thanks to his ambassadorial tenure in the US, he was familiar with the challenges facing Serbia.

"We must continue to improve our country's image in the world, which is sometimes unjustified and has been based on prejudices, if you will, since the 1990s. Today, Serbia has a phenomenal story to tell to the entire world about a country that has more than doubled its GDP in less than a decade, that has a GDP growth rate of over 4.7 pct and that is fully focused on the future, growth and progress," Djuric said.

Serbia wants to create a network of friends in the region and worldwide and solve inherited problems, including relations within the region and the internal relationship with its southern province of Kosovo-Metohija, in a responsible way while fighting for Serbian interests and also pointing out what the Serbs are going through, especially in Kosovo-Metohija, Djuric said.