Vucic meets with von der Leyen, other officials in Seville

SEVILLE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday he had had a useful discussion with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and meetings with other world officials at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville and that he would hold a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his visit to Spain.

Speaking to reporters, Vucic said the discussion with von der Leyen had addressed Serbia's EU path, the economy and decisions to be made by both the European Commission and Serbia in the coming period.

"I think it was extremely useful. I had a long discussion, we have never discussed our bilateral cooperation for so long," he said.

He said he expected Qatari PM Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, with whom he also met in Seville, to visit Belgrade by the end of the year, and that he had also spoken with the newly-elected president of Mozambique, which he noted was an exceptionally friendly country that had made a last-minute decision to abstain in a UN General Assembly vote on a Srebrenica resolution.

"I also had a long conversation with Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, president of Angola. Luanda is a great friend of ours and I believe we will be advancing the cooperation further," Vucic said.

He said he had also discussed the global situation and growth rate trends with the World Bank president.

"I informed him that I believe Serbia will still surpass what we expected, the 3 pct growth rate," Vucic said.

Vucic said he had also met with the Georgian FM and that they had agreed to step up exchanges of top-level visits.

He said he would address the Seville conference in the afternoon.

"And once we are done with all that, I will have a bilateral, one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron," Vucic said.