Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is visiting Belgrade on Wednesday at the invitation of Serb President Aleksandar Vučić, which was extended during a phone conversation between Dendias and Vučić on Tuesday, diplomatic sources said. The foreign minister accepted the invitation and will meet in private and have a working dinner with Vučić in the Serbian capital, the same sources added. Dendias’ visit to Belgrade (following up on his visit to Pristina on March 12, 2023) is taking place in the context of Greece’s active support of the European proposal for smoothing relations between Belgrade and Pristina after the agreement which was reached in Ochrid on March 18, 2023.
In his meeting with Vucic, Dendias “congratulated him on the recent agreement between Belgrade and Pristina reached in Ohrid,” he later tweeted. In another tweet, Dendias noted that he “reiterated Greece’s firm support to the EUfacilitated efforts for further progress of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, with a view to achieving a comprehensive, legally binding agreement. Discussion included regional developments and the Western Balkans’ European perspective.” Speaking to reporters after the meeting with Vucic, Dendias noted that he “also conveyed to him the greetings of [Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis and we had the opportunity for an extensive dialogue on how the conclusions of this Dialogue could be implemented.” Greece “is a reliable interlocutor, a historic friend of Serbia, an interlocutor who has a role to play with a very limited but very important agenda: stability and security in the Balkan Peninsula,” Dendias added.
The Greek minister’s visit to Belgrade – following his visit to Pristina on March 12 – is part of Greece’s active support of the European Proposal for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, after the agreement reached in Ohrid on March 18, Greek diplomatic sources had pointed out on Tuesday. Posting in social media, Vucic wrote that he thanked Dendias for the principled attitude that Greece maintains towards Serbia, and for his personal interest in the dialogue process with Pristina, the maintenance of peace and stability in the region, and for the support for Serbia’s European integration course./amna
/Argumentum.al
