Djuric: Finland confirmed unequivocal support for Serbia's European future

HELSINKI - Speaking to reporters in Helsinki after a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stub, Serbian FM Marko Djuric said on Tuesday Finland had reaffirmed unequivocal support for Serbia's European future, and noted that the two countries agreed that only a united Europe was a stronger Europe.

"This day represents a major step forward in Serbia-Finland relations and Serbia's European future because, at today's meetings with the president of Finland, the FM and whips of parliamentary groups, support for Serbia's European future was reaffirmed and given in an unequivocal manner," Djuric said.

He said the meetings with President Alexander Stub, FM Elina Valtonen and members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Grand Committee of the Finnish parliament had lent a new impetus to bilateral cooperation, and noted that his visit to Finland was the first by a Serbian minister in more than a decade.

Djuric said the discussions had also addressed the "broader picture" and developments in Finland's immediate neighbourhood, as well as changes in the fields of politics, security and the economy.

"There is a high level of agreement between us that only a united Europe is a stronger Europe. Serbia, as a country located centrally in southeastern Europe, represents a development opportunity, together with the rest of the region, for our continent, and that is the message we were trying to convey here," he said.

Djuric said topics Serbia and Finland did not see eye to eye on, such as the Kosovo-Metohija issue, had also been discussed.

"I took the opportunity to point to the difficult position of our people," he added, noting that he never missed opportunities to do so.

"With Minister Valtonen, we discussed concrete modalities of support for European enlargement in our region," he said, adding that he had tried to explain why a region without borders that would be a part of the Schengen area and a single market represented a source of 50 bln euros' worth of newly generated value a year, and why such a united region would represent a closure of "potentially vulnerable hotspots in the south of the continent."

"There are several Finnish companies operating in Serbia, in the field of renewable energy sources - wind farms - as well as in other fields. We hope to increase the volume of Finnish investments. This is a developed, sophisticated, technologically advanced country, and I think it is very important that we make a diplomatic breakthrough in the Nordic group of countries," Djuric said.

He said the visit to Finland was a step forward in Serbia's relations with Nordic countries and that it would boost its positions in the north of Europe.

"With the recent opening of our embassy in Riga and a recent visit by Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic, our efforts are gaining momentum," Djuric said.