Serbia, Zimbabwe sign two MoUs, Zimbabwe to reopen embassy in Belgrade

BELGRADE - The FMs of Serbia and Zimbabwe, Marko Djuric and Amon Murwira signed on Monday in Belgrade MoUs between their ministries.

Zimbabwe also announced it would reopen a diplomatic and consular representative office in Belgrade.

After meeting in the building of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Djuric and Murwira signed a MoU on cooperation between foreign policy institutes and a MoU on diplomatic cooperation and consultations.

"Today is a big day for Serbia-Zimbabwe relations," Djuric said after the signing ceremony.

"Minister Murwira's visit, his second since May, signals a new momentum in bilateral relations with what, for us, is one of the most important countries on the African continent, the state we stood with 45 years ago when it fought for its freedom, when it fought for its independence, when it fought, together with other African nations, to free itself from colonial and imperial diktat," Djuric said, adding that Zimbabwe had stood with Serbia in good and bad times in the past decades.

"Zimbabwe is a country that has always supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia in a principled manner, that has always been on our side when it comes to international organisations, from the UN to all other organisations. For that reason, I am pleased to be able to announce today that here, in Belgrade, we have signed a series of agreements that will advance our mutual cooperation, the cooperation between the two foreign ministries, the cooperation between our two diplomatic academies," Djuric said.

He added that they had agreed to set up a standing commission on bilateral cooperation.

"That commission will enable us to raise our relations to strategic level, regular cooperation between various ministries, government agencies and departments, and enable a permanent cooperation plan that will make it possible for the economies, scientific institutions and the defence sectors of the two countries to advance their cooperation and plan their activities on a regular basis," Djuric said.

He added that his Zimbabwean counterpart had come with good news as Zimbabwe had decided to reopen an embassy in Belgrade.

"To our citizens, this means that Serbia and Belgrade have regained their importance on the map of that part of the world and when it comes to relations with African countries, and that we will cooperate more easily also when it comes to tourism, economic exchange and all other forms of cooperation that are carried out through an embassy," Djuric said.

He extended Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's invitation to the president of Zimbabwe to visit Belgrade, and said Serbia looked forward to hosting him in the future.

Murwira said he had had a very constructive discussion with Djuric and that the two countries maintained years-long relations based on mutual respect and solidarity, as well as sovereign equality of states.

He noted that Zimbabwe supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and that the relations between the two countries dated back from the period of Zimabwe's liberation struggle.