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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia confirms to be serious partner in international arena

Belgrade, 5 December 2015

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said today that during the 22nd OSCE Ministerial Council Serbia was a centre of Europe and the world and showed extraordinary hospitality, managing to put its best foot forward.

At a joint press conference with First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, Vucic said that Serbian citizens have many reasons to be proud of Serbia, which is organizing the Ministerial Council of the OSCE confirmed the capacity of a serious and reliable partner in the international arena.

He said that over the previous two days, he took upon himself to deal with "small domestic matters" and to see what the future holds for Serbia.

Vucic also pointed out that he had 11 bilateral meetings with representatives of the world's most powerful organizations and countries, including, including Federica Mogherini, Sergei Lavrov, John Kerry and others.

Vucic said that a number of visits was agreed on, noting that Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu will arrive in Belgrade on a business forum by the end of the year.

Vucic said that Davutoglu will arrive to Serbia with Turkish businessmen, who are interested in privatisation, spas, construction of tourist facilities, investments.

Davutoglu will probably arrive between 25 and 30 December, the Prime Minister said and announced that Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev will arrive in Belgrade in the first half of 2016.

According to Vucic, the organisation of the summit was good for Serbia as people were attracted to come to our country.

He pointed out that he and US Secretary of State John Kerry talked about investments of US companies, and expressed great satisfaction with Kerry's view of the Balkans and Serbia's role in the region, as well as the interest in the arrival of American companies.

It is significantly that there were no security threats during the meeting, Vucic said and praised all those involved in the organisation and holding of the meeting, including members of the police, who did the job the best way possible, and citizens who showed great patience.

The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to everyone for their patience and congratulated the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior, as well as other services.

Dacic expressed great satisfaction with the way in which Serbia had organised the meeting and also thanked Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

All the participants said that they have long not seen a Ministerial Council meeting organised so well, he said.

Having so many foreign ministers together in one place is very rare in the 40 years since the OSCE was established, Dacic said, pointing out that the number of foreign ministers was 43.

According to Dacic, after a long discussion several documents on important topics were adopted, such as the fight against terrorism, violent extremism, youth issues and security issues relating to some specific discussions, in conjunction with Moldova and Transnistria.

No compromise was reached on some other issues, but all noted that the tone was significantly different than the previous Ministerial Council in Basel, said Dacic.

During its OSCE chairmanship, Serbia has been shown more respect than in previous years, and it proved it can be a good place for discussions and talks, he said.

Serbia has proved to be a serious actor on the international scene and to be able to chair the OSCE. Serbia is no longer a subject of debate in those bodies, but can be a country that plays an important role. It shows the changed international position of our country, said Dacic.

He recalled that a meeting of the Russian and Turkish ministers of foreign affairs was held for the first time in Belgrade following the crash of the Russian aircraft.

EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini had a series of bilateral meetings, which also gave Belgrade importance, he said.

Reforms were so visible that all officials emphasised the importance of what Serbia has done in the past few years and this is an additional part of the success of the government of Serbia, he said.

Dacic reiterated that the summit of the OSCE in Belgrade showed that, rather than being a topic on the agenda, Serbia became chair of the meeting.

He pointed out that Serbia organised the Ministerial Council of the OSCE with much less money than the previous chairman, Switzerland.

According to Dacic, Serbia set aside RSD 360 million, while Switzerland spent five times more, or CHF 17 million.

The 22nd Ministerial Council of the OSCE ended last night in Belgrade, where the main topics were the fight against terrorism, Ukrainian and migrant crises, climate change, as well as the Russian-Turkish dispute after the overthrow of the Russian plane.