Belgrade thanks Moscow for gas supplies and veto of the Srebrenica resolution

On March 9th President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic will arrive in Moscow, where he will receives an award of the International Fund ‘Unity of the Orthodox Peoples". As the Serbian Ambassador to Russia, Slavenko Terzic explained, such awards will be given by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.The State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin and His Holiness Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte will also receive the award along with Nikolic.

Another important step for Russian-Serbian relations will be the visit of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Belgrade in May. And this fall, probably, an official visit by President Nikolic to Russia will take place.

Speaking about the relations between Moscow and Belgrade, Slavenko Terzic emphasized the great appreciation to the Russian Federation, especially in the preservation of Serbia's territorial integrity, in particular, when  vetoed the British the resolution on Srebrenica in the Security Council. [On July 8th last year the UN Security Council considered a draft resolution on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which recognizes the events in Srebrenica in 1995 as an act of genocide. 10 Security Council members, including France, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States supported the document; Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela abstained; and Russia vetoed it, finding the resolution confrontational]. Terzic also thanked Moscow for its support of Serbia in UNESCO, when Belgrade opposed the proposal of Albania to recognize Kosovo and Metohija as members of UNESCO

With regard to our economic cooperation, according to the Serbian diplomat, last year, it has not developed as successfully as in the year before. "in 2014 the volume of our economic cooperation was 3 billion 369 million dollars. This was an increase of 13% compared to 2013. In 2014, the Serbian expert amounted to 1 billion 29 million, and our imports from Russia were worth 2 billion 340 million. This was in 2014. But in 2015, unfortunately, I have data for the first 10 months, our volumes decreased. In the first 10 months, they amounted to 2 billion 0.15 million dollars, they decreased by 26% compared with the first 10 months of 2014, the previous year. In the first 10 months, our exports to Russia were worth 596, almost 600 million, a drop of 32%. The Serbian imports worth 1 billion 488 million dollars, also a fall of 24%. I think the reason may be primarily the economic crisis around the world, both in Russia and Serbia, and also, perhaps, the volatility of the ruble exchange rate, " Terzic said.

Meanwhile, he said, in the last year exports especially of agricultural products to Russia increased – apples, dairy products, vegetables, fruits. "We are grateful to Russia for its constant and good supply of gas to Serbia. We also look forward for a continuation and liberalization of our trade. We hope this year will be signed a free trade agreement between Serbia and the EAEC".