Dacic and Foreign Minister of Venezuela Gil discuss the promotion of cooperation

“Venezuela and Serbia are two brotherly or, if you will, sister countries that are very close, with traditional and friendly relations spanning 140, and by now 141 years. In these difficult times for both Venezuela and Serbia, we have managed to preserve our friendship despite heavy pressures”, said Minister Dacic at the joint press conference after the talks, welcoming his colleague from Venezuela, and added that President Vucic had previously hosted a working breakfast for Minister Gil, which was not a common practice, wishing to express his respect for Venezuela and President Maduro for their friendship shown to Serbia.

In the talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which were also considered as the Second Meeting of the Serbia-Venezuela Political Consultation Mechanism, numerous possibilities for the further promotion of bilateral cooperation were discussed. Both sides expressed readiness to strengthen political dialogue and economic ties, as well as cooperation in agriculture, tourism, education, youth, sports and culture.

"I would like to express enormous gratitude to Venezuela for its position regarding our biggest problem - the issue of our territorial integrity and sovereignty", said the Serbian Foreign Minister, adding that there were no outstanding issues between the two countries and that Venezuela had a sincere friend in Serbia as well as that, aiming to facilitate cooperation as much as possible, a decision was made to open the Embassy of Serbia in Venezuela, given that Venezuela had had an Embassy in Serbia for years.

Minister Dacic then referred to his recent decision to recall, in accordance with the law, ambassadors whose four-year term of office had expired, and announced that new ambassadors would be appointed in the coming weeks, including the Ambassador to Venezuela.

"We are bound by several issues with Serbia - first of all, we are bound by the issue of principles of international law, the principle of respect for the UN Charter", said the Foreign Minister of Venezuela Gil, adding that his country would always be faithful to the principle of supporting sovereignty and respecting the territorial integrity of countries, which were values that it shared with Serbia, with which it strived to develop relations over the past decade in the ever-complex world of today, in an increasingly challenging geopolitical situation. Minister Gil also reminded that the Non-Aligned Movement was founded in Belgrade in 1961, which Venezuela subsequently joined, and which was another forum for cooperation between our two countries.

The Ministers signed the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the abolition of visas for holders of ordinary passports, which was jointly assessed as the first in a series of steps aimed at strengthening, above all, economic cooperation, as well as the Declaration of the Serbia -Venezuela mechanism of political consultations. At the end, Minister Dacic announced that the twinning procedure between Belgrade and Caracas had been initiated.