Minister Selaković for "Al Ahram" about future cooperation with Egypt

Minister Selaković, who is on an official visit to Egypt, said in an interview to the country's most widely circulated daily newspaper Al Ahram that special attention was paid to his capacity as a special envoy of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, on whose behalf he had the honour to extend an invitation to President El-Sisi to attend the Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement which will be held in Belgrade on 11 and 12 October.

In that context, Selaković pointed out that Egypt's participation was particularly important, given the key and historical role of that country in founding the Movement, as well as Egypt's activities at the international level, where it acts as a strong promoter of the basic principles on which the Movement is founded.

Selaković emphasized that the meetings of the two presidents were vital to improving the relations between the two countries.

"They give new energy to the unity of Serbia and Egypt and encourage all levels of our societies to cooperate internally and fight for common interests in the international arena”, Selaković said. 

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that the important goal of his visit was the preparation of the session of the Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place by the end of this year in Cairo.

In that context, Selaković stated that Serbia and Egypt were seriously preparing for the upcoming session of the Joint Committee and that they had an ambitious agenda.

As he stated, Serbia was interested in exchanging experiences in the field of solar energy and wind energy. Egypt's experience in the development of renewable energy sources was important to us and we are ready to accept any kind of cooperation that is in the common interest.  

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that Serbia wishes to further develop and expand its economic relations with Egypt, which includes increasing trade.

"Economic relations are generally developing well, but there are potentials for their further development and improvement in numerous areas such as agriculture, tourism, healthcare, telecommunications, construction, machine industry, mining and scientific research projects," he said.

According to him, the list of goods that Serbia could export to Egypt is long and includes products from almost all industries and given Egypt's good relations with Russia, China and the UAE, the possibility of various trilateral ties in economic projects is not ruled out. 

He also said that an additional opportunity for businessmen of both countries was the fact that the Egyptian and Serbian economies were networked in broader free trade systems, which include markets much larger than national ones. 

Minister Selaković also stated that Serbia was considering the possibility of its involvement to a certain extent in the implementation of investment megaprojects, and in this regard, we were seriously considering the Egyptian proposal to store a certain amount of grain in new silos in Suez, as a new and expanded logistics centre in Egypt, from where our products could be transported to their final destinations.

Noting that small and medium enterprises were carriers of economic development, Selaković underlined that Serbia agreed with the assessment that the establishment and expansion of cooperation between small and medium enterprises in Serbia and Egypt could significantly improve economic cooperation between the two countries, increase trade and positively affect economic development and employment in our countries.

"We expect that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Development Agency of Serbia and the Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises of Egypt will make a key contribution to the development of this cooperation”, Selaković said. 

The head of Serbian diplomacy also pointed out that Egypt has become one of the most popular tourist destinations for Serbian tourists, who also visited that country during the corona virus epidemic.

"I am convinced that the trend of increasing the number of Serbian tourists in Egypt will continue, and this is the result of the improvement of the economic situation in Serbia and the rapid rise in living standards”, Selaković said adding that during the previous 7 years, Serbia has embarked on a path of stable progress, the key contribution to which has been the visionary policy of President Aleksandar Vučić.

When asked about the situation in the Middle East, the head of Serbian diplomacy said that Serbia was following the developments in that region and the region of North Africa very closely.

He pointed out that Serbia respected Egypt's positioning and actions in solving regional problems, in a way that contributes to peace and stability in the region and beyond.He emphasized that Serbia respects Egypt's position and actions in solving regional problems, in a way that contributes to peace and stability in the region and beyond.

" We support the principled approach of Egypt, based on international law and the fundamental principles of the UN, that crises in the region should be resolved on the principle of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, with the establishment and effective operation of unified national institutions, head of Serbian diplomacy said.

He also said that conflicts and instability in the region of the Middle East and North Africa have caused a refugee and migrant crisis, the consequences of which were directly felt by Serbia as a transit destination. Unlike some other countries, Serbia tried to treat refugees and migrants humanely, aware that most of them were people who were forced to leave their homes.

Minister Selaković said that the Republic of Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt act in solidarity, unity and coherence when it comes to the fight against terrorism and, in that sense, our competent services achieve appropriate cooperation.

“For us, Egypt’s experiences in the fight against terrorism are valuable”, Serbian Minister added.

When talking about the foreign policy of Serbia, head of Serbian diplomacy said that regardless of its priority interest for EU accession, Serbia pursues a multi-vector foreign policy.

In that context, he added, Serbia achieves close cooperation with other partners as well, especially with China and the Russian Federation, while the countries of the Arab world and Africa remain a particularly important place for our country.

“Don't forget, Serbia has 14 embassies on the territory of Africa, and all former Yugoslav republics together have 4 embassies”.

In view of the regional policy of Serbia, the Minister said that it was of key interest for the Republic of Serbia to preserve stability in the region as well as the orientation of all countries in the region towards a more intensive cooperation in all areas.

“Only such a region enables sustainable development of Serbia itself”, Selaković said and added that in relations with our neighbours we have focused on the development of economic cooperation and presented to the readers of Al Ahram the "Open Balkan" initiative, which aims to deepen the regional economic market and facilitate the movement of people, goods, services and capital.