Djuric meets with Finnish parliament speaker

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric spoke with Finnish Parliament Speaker Jussi Halla-aho in Belgrade on Tuesday about bilateral economic cooperation, EU integration and the situation in Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija.

Noting that Serbia-Finland relations were good and characterised by a positive trend in political dialogue and cooperation, Djuric said this year's 95th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries testified to the longevity of their relationship.

Djuric said he was pleased with increasingly frequent meetings between top officials of the two countries and noted that he had recently had an opportunity to host Finnish FM Elina Valtonen in Belgrade.

He said EU membership was a strategic commitment and a foreign policy priority for Serbia and that Serbia was an advocate of European values and wanted to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in Europe.

Speaking about Kosovo-Metohija, Djuric underscored that Belgrade was consistently committed to the dialogue with Pristina but that, above all, security needed to be ensured to Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and all commitments from agreements reached to date met without further delay.

He welcomed the participation of Finnish troops in the KFOR mission and noted the necessity of international presence in the territory of the province.

He also reiterated Serbia's commitment to further boost economic cooperation with Finland and, especially, to increase the bilateral trade volume and continue to attract investments by Finnish companies.