Djuric meets with Italy's Ciriani

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric spoke with Italian Minister for Parliamentary Relations Luca Ciriani on Friday about advancement of bilateral relations, Serbia's EU path and current regional affairs.

Djuric said Serbia and Italy maintained friendly and close relations based on a strategic partnership, and noted that Italy had been the first EU member state with which Serbia had established that form of cooperation, the Serbian MFA said in a statement.

He said Italy was one of Serbia's most significant economic partners and that there was a mutual interest in deepening the cooperation further as Serbia was committed to economic development after more than doubling its GDP in the past decade.

He said he was especially pleased with continued political dialogue and a successful visit to Belgrade by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, which he noted had confirmed the friendship between the two countries, giving a new momentum to bilateral relations.

Djuric noted that Serbia's key priorities included preservation of regional stability and political and military neutrality, as well as EU accession.

He said he believed the conditions for opening Cluster 3 in the accession talks would be created in the coming period and added that opening the cluster would lend an additional impetus to Serbia's EU integration process.

Djuric thanked Italy for its strong belief in Belgrade's European vision, as well as for its continued support for Serbia's EU path, and especially pointed out the engagement of Italian troops in the KFOR mission, which he said were making a major contribution to preservation of security and stability in Kosovo-Metohija and to protection of Serbian cultural heritage.

Djuric also noted that, this year, Serbia was presiding over the Central European Initiative, which he said had been contributing to economic development of its member states for three decades now, with strong support from Italy.