Vucic: Serbia to open embassy in Tbilisi to boost economic, political cooperation

BELGRADE - Serbia will soon open its embassy in Tbilisi, which will be the right place for kick-starting many business initiatives as well as for boosting bilateral cooperation further, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after a meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili in Belgrade.

"Today, we discussed all important topics, the global political situation - the geopolitical situation - the situation in the Caucasus region, the situation in the Western Balkans region and southeastern Europe. We understood each other well, and what is very important is that we agreed that respect for the UN Charter and UN resolutions is essential for the relations between the two states," Vucic told a press conference at the Palace of Serbia after a meeting with Kavelashvili.

He thanked Georgia for respecting the territorial integrity of Serbia and noted that, in the same way, Serbia respected the territorial integrity of Georgia.

"Those things will not change on either side in the future. As representatives of relatively small countries or medium-sized countries, however you put it, we know that international public law, protection of the international legal order, is the only place where we can seek salvation, and that this is something we will be stubbornly adhering to in the future," Vucic said.

He also announced a Serbia-Georgia committee would meet on December 22 to initiate strategic dialogue on signing a FTA between the two countries.

Vucic said the Serbian part of the committee would be chaired by Minister of Internal and External Trade Jagoda Lazarevic and that the FTA could be concluded by end-2026.

"I believe we will have major progress on that matter. We can get many products from Georgia, at cheaper prices compared to some other places, and vice versa. I think this is a good opportunity for our businesspeople to find good space in Georgia for their products," he said.