Vucic: Serbia, Hungary to set up strategic council

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday new strategic dialogue had been opened with Hungary and that he expected the two countries to set up a council on strategic cooperation.

In an interview for Pink TV, Vucic announced a top-level summit for May and said it would be attended by him and his Hungarian counterpart Katalin Novak, as well as by Serbian and Hungarian government officials.

"I believe that summit should be held in Belgrade or Novi Sad. We will see... And we will set up a strategic council to cooperate more when it comes to security, (in the fight) against terrorism, which also opens up possibilities for cooperation when it comes to the army and police and in terms of military technology," Vucic said.

He said Hungary was now Serbia's fifth-largest external trade partner after moving up from the 13th place.

He said the trade cooperation was seeing dramatic growth, reflecting major Hungarian investments in Serbia.

Echoing a statement by Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, Vucic said Serbia-Hungary relations were at an all-time high.

Vucic and Orban met in Belgrade on Saturday.

"After a three-and-a-half-hour discussion about all strategic matters of cooperation between Hungary and Serbia, I played a friendly game of pool with PM Orban. Proud of the friendship between Serbs and Hungarians and grateful to Viktor Orban for investing a lot of effort and energy to make that friendship substantial and sincere," Vucic wrote in a post on his buducnostsrbijeav Instagram profile after the meeting.