Balkans | Serbia wants to improve relations with the United States and Azerbaijan

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed his country’s desire to develop relations with both the United States and Azerbaijan.

Vucic first received US Senators Chris Murphy and Gary Peters, and then the Speaker of the Azerbaijani National Assembly, Ms. Gafarova, in the capital, Belgrade.

In a statement on his social media account after the meetings, Vucic thanked the US senators for their support for dialogue with Kosovo and said, “I conveyed that the establishment of the Serbian Federation of Municipalities is a priority.” Use the phrase.

And indicating that they discussed what could be done to develop relations with the United States of America, Vucic indicated that his country is ready in this direction.

Vucic said that they discussed bilateral relations with Jafarova and evaluated conditions that could be beneficial in the economy and other areas.

Noting that they also want to improve relations with Azerbaijan, Vucic stressed that this would be in the interest of the citizens of the two countries.

No agreement was reached in the Federation of Serbian Municipalities

Serbia considers Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, to be its territory.

Serbia and Kosovo, which clash periodically, are trying to find a common way to normalize relations, and eventually for the two countries to recognize each other, within the framework of the dialogue process between Belgrade and Pristina, which began in 2011 with mediation. from the European Union (EU).

The agreement establishing the Federation of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo’s mostly Serb municipalities between Kosovo and Serbia was signed in 2013 with EU mediation, but has not been put into practice.

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, who last met in Brussels on May 2, announced that they could not reach an agreement on a union of Serbian municipalities.