12.06.2013.
Friendly relations between Serbia and Italy
First Vice President of the Serbian Government and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic met today in Rome with the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Italy Mario Mauro.At the beginning of the meeting, Vucic pointed out that Serbia sees Italy as a great friend, and therefore expects help from friends, not the kind of help that would jeopardize the Italian people, but help in getting the date for starting EU accession negotiations, because Serbia has fulfilled all the requirements for obtaining the date.
"We expect Italy to lead a large group of countries that will support us in obtaining the date," said Vucic. "We appreciate the efforts and contributions of Italian soldiers who are deployed in KFOR troops in Kosovo, in particular those who guard Serbian cultural heritage sites, monasteries Decani and the Pec Patriarchate," he Vucic.
The topics of discussion between two ministers related to military-military cooperation as well as military education, military medical, military and economic cooperation.
As for the defense industry, Vucic commended good cooperation with Italian company "Finmehanika" Serbia is working with on modernization of SAF radar and missile systems. "We talked about joint appearance on third markets with weapons and equipment," Vucic said.
Italian Minister of defence said that in addition topics pertained to political issues, such as the European course of Serbia and the support of the Italian Government."I will do anything for our Serbian friends when it comes to helping them on their EU path. We have a special relationship that binds us to Serbia, so it is only natural that we support your efforts towards the EU," concluded Mauro.
The two ministers also discussed the Italian aid in the removing the remaining cluster bombs in Serbia.
Vucic invited his Italian counterpart to visit Serbia in September, which Mauro accepted.
