Vucic thanks Zelenskyy for respecting Serbia's territorial integrity

ODESSA - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he had had very successful meetings at the Ukraine-Southeast Europe summit in Odessa on Wednesday and that he had thanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for fully respecting the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of Serbia and for the fact there had been no representatives of Pristina at the summit.

Vucic said it was a great gesture and that Serbia would know how to appreciate it.

"There was no Pristina or Pristina representatives here," Vucic told Serbian reporters in Odessa.

Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, Vucic said they had already met and had had a long discussion during lunch.

"I have also spoken with all the others. I also had a short bilateral discussion with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the Croatian PM and the PM and the president of Montenegro, as well as with the Bulgarian PM and the Romanian president. I invited Nicusor Dan to visit Serbia soon, which I believe will happen."

He said the discussions were good, open and friendly.

"We discussed important issues with Ukraine, because we must resolve the issue of our trade relations and a FTA through the World Trade Organisation," he said.

Vucic noted that the message about territorial integrity had been very important but that Serbia had abstained in a vote on a declaration adopted at the summit as the document was "not easy or simple for us."