Brnabic: We are grateful to Azerbaijan for respecting Serbia's territorial integrity

BAKU - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic met with her Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova in Baku on Wednesday, thanking Azerbaijan for respecting the territorial integrity of Serbia and considering Kosovo-Metohija as an integral part of Serbia.

"To us, that is a connection we cherish above all, and a sign of our continued friendship and gratitude," Brnabic said at a press conference with Gafarova.

She said the goal of her visit to Azerbaijan was to strengthen bilateral political and parliamentary ties and to continue dialogue on advancement of economic ties.

She noted that, thanks to an initiative by Presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Ilham Aliyev, cooperation between the two countries had been raised to the level of strategic partnership in November 2022 and that, therefore, annual visits at the highest level were no surprise.

"As far as our strategic partnership is concerned, it is our wish to hold the first meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council in Belgrade in the coming weeks," Brnabic said.

She said bilateral economic cooperation had risen significantly in the past five years and that the volume of trade was now 24 times higher, but noted that this was still much below what the two countries were able to accomplish together.

Noting that energy was a key global resource. Brnabic said Serbia was grateful to Azerbaijan and Aliyev for developing and strengthening the bilateral energy partnership.

"The construction of a gas interconnection with Bulgaria at the end of 2023 made it possible for Serbia to start importing gas from Azerbaijan," she said.

She added that Serbia was interested in further strengthening of the partnership and that two projects were crucial, one of them being the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Nis, an investment worth up to 600 mln euros.

"Secondly, talks about a gas agreement are underway and we hope we will be able to finalise them in the near future," Brnabic said.

She noted that cooperation with Azerbaijani company AzVirt, involved in some of Serbia's key infrastructure projects, was excellent.

Brnabic also said parliamentary cooperation was outstanding and that the Serbian parliament now had a 24-member Serbia-Azerbaijan friendship group.

Gafarova said Brnabic's visit to Baku reflected a high level of bilateral relations and an intent to expand cooperation.

She said the relations were seeing constant development, having risen to the level of strategic partnership, and that even better cooperation was expected in politics, the economy, trade and the energy sector.