Minister Selakovic: We are not giving up on EU membership
Selakovic said that he thanked Korčok for Slovakia's principled support in preserving our sovereignty and territorial integrity, i.e., on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, while also expressing gratitude for the support in the process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina and the role played by Slovak colleague Miroslav Lajčák in that process.
"We are grateful for and we value the support you have extended to us", Selakovic said at a press conference held after the meeting with his Slovak counterpart. He emphasized that Slovakia had never blocked Serbia on the European path and that we always had the support of Slovakia. He expressed satisfaction that Slovakia held the topic of EU enlargement high on the agenda, advocated for enlargement during the Portuguese Presidency of the Union and supported the opening of new chapters in Serbia's membership negotiations.
Selakovic thanked the Slovak Government and people for their selfless assistance to Serbia since the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic, as well as for the aid handed over today by the Slovak Minister in the form PCR tests and protective equipment for the Clinical Center of Serbia.
He said that it was important for Serbia that Slovakia and the Visegrad Group show interest in regional cooperation and that Serbia supported the joint ministerial conferences of the Western Balkans and the Visegrad Four. Minister Selakovic emphasized that Serbia and Slovakia, in addition to extremely high level of political relations, maintained a notable trade in goods, and called on Slovak investors to invest in Serbia.
He stated that the economic cooperation between Serbia and Slovakia in 2020, despite the pandemic, did not record a major drop and that last year the trade in goods amounted to EUR 545 million, of which Serbian companies' exports to Slovakia amounted to EUR 301.7 million. According to Selakovic, more than 52,000 persons belonging to the Slovak people in Serbia and more than 7,000 members of the Serbian people living in Slovakia were of special value in the relations between the two countries, and he assessed that this provided a unique dimension to our relations, while making our friendship and brotherhood stronger. He announced that in 2022, Serbia will submit a request to UNESCO for the inscription of Slovak naive painting from Kovacica as an intangible cultural heritage.
"By doing so, Serbia will be among the first in this part of Europe to request the protection of cultural heritage that originally belongs to a national minority living on its territory", Selakovic said.
He stated that next year we celebrate 220 years since our Slovak friends settled in the territory of today's Serbia, and that in cooperation with the leadership of the City of Belgrade, a proposal was made to name one street in Belgrade after Bratislava. He also expressed readiness to provide a spot for the erection of a monument to Ľudovít Štúr in Belgrade, and proposed the erection of a monument to Nikola Tesla in Slovakia.
Minister Korčok said that Slovakia supported Serbia's path towards the EU and that Serbia was making progress on that path.
"It is your free choice to become a member of the EU and we support you in that regard. I did not come to Belgrade to teach you something, you know what your homework is and what steps you should to take", said Korčok.
He expressed the expectation that during the Portuguese EU Presidency, some chapters would be opened in Serbia's negotiations on membership in the Union and that progress would be made in the European agenda, in which the rule of law is one of the areas. He said that Slovakia expected progress in normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina and supported the continuation of the dialogue. Korčok said that he started his tour of the Western Balkans today in Belgrade and stated that he had detailed and comprehensive talks with the representatives of Serbia.
"Our two countries have deep and friendly relations. We have no open issues, no problems, but prospects and opportunities for our bilateral cooperation, to which we are committed as we are to our common future in Europe", Korčok said. He stated that Slovakia attached great importance to economic cooperation, which he discussed with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. He said there were many areas for cooperation, including innovation, energy, water management and environmental protection. He sees the initiative for the protection of Slovak naive painting in Kovacica as very important and supports cooperation in the field of culture.
"This is very important to us, especially for Slovaks living in Vojvodina, and it is a bridge that we want to nurture", said the Slovak Minister. After the meeting, the two Ministers took a tour of the Church of Saint Sava in Vracar, where Minister Slekakovic spoke about Saint Sava and his father Stefan Nemanja, as well as about the monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija.
Source: Tanjug
