Brnabic discusses cooperation at Geneva meetings

GENEVA - On the second day of a visit to Geneva, Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic met with Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova to discuss advancement of cooperation based on bilateral parliamentary cooperation.

Brnabic said Azerbaijan was a country Serbia could always rely on.

"We agreed to launch cooperation separately at committee level, through the working bodies of the National Assembly of Serbia and the relevant committees, for specific topics such as energy and the economy and all that can help the government and the executive authorities to do their job even better," Brnabic said.

She said she had also had a very good meeting with Egyptian Parliament Speaker Hanafy Ali El-Gebali in the presence of an Egyptian MP heading an Egypt-Serbia parliamentary friendship group.

"We discussed what more we can do and, most importantly, how we as the parliament can lend additional support to the governments of Serbia and Egypt to complete the talks on signing a FTA between our two countries. Egypt is an extremely important market for our agricultural and food products," Brnabic noted.

She said had had very good meetings with Belgian Senate Speaker Stephanie D'Hose and Republic of Ireland Senate Speaker Jerry Buttimer.

"We do not have good cooperation with Belgium and Ireland, almost no contact whatsoever. That is something we are yet to begin," Brnabic said, noting that she would meet with the Maltese parliament speaker and a vice chairman of the National People's Congress of China in the evening.

She also met with World Economic Forum President Borge Brende.

Brnabic is in Geneva for the 148th session of the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.