Prime Minister Marjan Šarec promised Slovenia’s further assistance to Serbia in efforts to join the EU, as he visited the country on Tuesday. Talking to the press alongside his counterpart Ana Brnabić in Novi Sad, he said that there was no alternative to Serbia joining the EU. The EU accession process is the most important tool in preserving economic stability in the region and its slowing down or suspension would carry serious consequences, Šarec said.
Brnabić thanked Šarec for Slovenia’s political and technical support, adding that the countries’ bilateral cooperation, both economic and political, were at a high level and with no open issues.
She noted that Slovenian companies are among the biggest investors in Serbia and that the number of Serbian investments in Slovenia is rising as well.
There are more than 1,500 companies with Slovenian capital in Serbia, employing some 25,000 people, she said. Trade is increasing, as well, exceeding EUR 1.6 billion in 2018, while the figure for the first nine months of this year was at EUR 870 million, according to Brnabić.
A joint session of the governments of Serbia and Slovenia was held in Novi Sad with delegations led by Prime Ministers Ana Brnabic and Marjan Sarec. After separate meetings between the prime ministers and relevant ministers and a joint session, during which several documents on cooperation between the two countries in different fields have been signed, the prime ministers of the two countries addressed the public.
Brnabic thanked Slovenia for its support to Serbia’s European integration, as well as for the support it gives to the initiative to establish the so-called Mini Schengen, which she recalled, was an initiative launched by the president of Serbia to ensure a stable and economically prosperous region.
She also thanked Sarec for visiting the Visoki Decani Monastery during his visit to Slovenian troops in KFOR in Kosovo and Metohija, which Serbia sees as a special sign of friendship, and thanked the contingent of Slovenian soldiers guarding the monastery.
