TANJUG - Dačić: We continue our fight to defend Serbia's territorial integrity in 2023

01. Jan 2023.
The difficult diplomatic and political fight to defend our territorial integrity will continue in the new year, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić in his interview for Tanjug.

Minister Dačić stated that it was difficult to talk about any plans, when everything in our country starts and ends with the topic of our territorial integrity and sovereignty. This is why the plans are aimed at ensuring the best possible foundations to protect our national and state interests in 2023.

“Unfortunately, this is a topic we will be dealing with in the period ahead, too. I say that it is unfortunate because we will certainly again be facing pressures, double standards and blackmail, so our other goals, such as European integration or establishment of optimal relations with some of the important countries at the international political scene, will, without a doubt, depend on the dialogue with Pristina”, said Minister Dačić.

He stated that Serbia would invest greatest possible efforts to ensure the dialogue and peace, but, as he said, it would also, of course, do everything in its power to defend the lives and survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.

“We hoped and we still hope that the international community will realize that the greatest factor of instability and the biggest threat to the peace and stability in the region is Albin Kurti and Pristina’s policy, a policy of not observing any international agreements, from the Resolution SC UN 1244 to the Brussels Agreement and Washington Agreement”, said Minister Dačić.

Minister Dačić emphasised that unilateral actions of the Prime Minister of the temporary institutions in Pristina Albin Kurti are causing, every week, a new escalation of the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija, and said that this was an attempt to find a shortcut for a solution to the Kosovo problem, by using force and the Blitzkrieg principle.

He further elaborated that Kurti wanted to resolve the overall issue of Kosovo, too, by exiling Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, and reaching a solution which would entail international recognition.

“In that regard, everything we can expect in 2023, all our greatest challenges, are about one topic, from which everything else originates, including European integration and relations with neighbours and major powers”, explained Minister Dačić.

He said that his wish for this year was for peace in Ukraine, for the end of a war which had caused tectonic disturbances on the political, economic and energy scene.

This way, in his words, new and different circumstances will be created for the resolution of some other matters which are nearer to us, namely the matter of European integration, reduction of pressures on Serbia, and double standards regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the territorial integrity of Serbia.

“We wish that you, journalists, would have as little to do as possible in the new year, as few bad topics to cover as possible, and it the task of us, politicians, to ensure that”, said Minister Dačić.

Minister Dačić stated that the policy of the leadership of Serbia would be aimed at the future and at Serbia’s European prospects, but would also include protection of national and state interests.

Source: Tanjug