Macut welcomes Somalian PM in Belgrade

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Djuro Macut welcomed Somalian counterpart Hamza Abdi Barre with the highest state honours at a ceremony outside the Palace of Serbia on Tuesday.

Barre is heading a Somalian delegation on an official visit to Belgrade.

After the ceremony, Macut and Barre began a tete-a-tete meeting, to be followed by a plenary meeting of Serbian and Somalian government delegations.

Serbian Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic greeted the Somalian delegation at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport on Monday afternoon.

Serbia and Somalia maintain traditionally good ties and a decades-long friendship dating back from the era of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Serbia and Somalia respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and Somalia has de-recognised the so-called Kosovo.