Russian-Serbian talks

Mikhail Mishustin held talks with Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic

[Link]

Russian-Serbian talks

10 December 2021

[Link]

Russian-Serbian talks

10 December 2021

[Link]

Russian-Serbian talks

10 December 2021

Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to greet you, Ms Brnabic. Welcome to Moscow. I am delighted to meet you personally.

Your visit follows up on the constructive talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on November 25 in Sochi. Naturally, it is our governments' job to fulfil the agreements that our leaders have reached.

Serbia is Russia's important partner in the Balkans, and in Eastern Europe. The ties between our countries are truly special, based on a historical friendship, close affinity and, I would say, brotherhood between the Russian and Serbian peoples. They have been tested by time and hardships of wartime and do not depend on the political situation.

It is important that our Serbian friends respect our common historical heritage, honour the memory of Russian and Soviet soldiers who gave their lives to liberate Serbia, among other lands, from Nazi occupation.

We highly appreciate the Serbian leaders' principled approach to building up mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia despite external pressure and illegal unilateral sanctions against our country.

When it comes to trade and economic relations, we have overcome the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. In January-October, the trade added almost 20 percent on the 2020 level and reached $1.9 billion.

Large joint projects are being successfully implemented in various fields. The Serbian section of the TurkStream gas pipeline became operational in January. Russian Railways is modernising Serbian railways; we saw one of these projects today. A new project, Belgrade Diameters, is being discussed. It involves laying more than 220 kilometres of tracks for suburban and urban rail traffic and will change the entire rail transport network in the Serbian capital.

Your visit is timed to coincide with the Made in Russia International Export Forum, in which Serbia participates as a partner country. You and I have spoken at the plenary session and visited our exporters' displays. Many of them are active in the Serbian market with the Russian Export Centre's support.

On July 10, the Eurasian Economic Union and Serbia enacted their free trade agreement signed in October 2019. It opens up new opportunities for expanding trade exchanges between Russia and Serbia, for creating joint ventures in industry, energy, agriculture, peaceful nuclear energy, transport infrastructure and high technology.

We are also cooperating in responding to the coronavirus infection. You have mentioned this in your remarks. Russia has delivered almost 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to Serbia, and now, the Torlak Institute in Belgrade has launched industrial production of Sputnik V. More than 1.5 million doses have already been produced and rolled out for mass immunisation of the population, including in countries neighbouring Serbia.

I propose discussing the most important items on our mutual agenda, and I give the floor to Ms Brnabic. Go ahead, please.

Ana Brnabic: Thank you, Mr Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

First, I would like to express my personal satisfaction that in the end I had the opportunity to become acquainted with you and spend at least one day in Russia's wonderful capital.

This is my first opportunity to visit Moscow proper and see the city. Last time I was here, I spent the whole day in Skolkovo. At that time, I was eager to get acquainted with the people in Skolkovo, to do something with them and to learn from them. And, indeed, we established cooperation - very close, good cooperation between the Skolkovo Institute and our startup. Our representatives frequently travel here and this guarantees the future development and strengthening of our cooperation, primarily in the high tech sector where Russia has much to offer.

I would like to thank you for three things - as the Prime Minister of Serbia and a Serbian national I highly value what the Russian Federation has done for us. First, the energy agreement - the accords that President Vladimir Putin and President Alexandar Vucic reached in Sochi. For my country, these accords guarantee energy reliability in the most difficult winter months, as well as economic stability. We are very grateful for what President Putin and the Russian Federation have done for us in this area. This is a no small feat for us. And credit for all this goes to the personal friendship of our presidents.

Second, thank you for your position of principle on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. This is a very important issue for us. We are grateful to the Russian Federation for supporting us in both the Security Council and in other organisations. It is supporting not only us, but in general the principles of international law and justice. This support is so important for us that it provides for a Belgrade-Pristina dialogue that ensures peace and security for the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

Third, is the Sputnik V vaccine. We are very grateful to Minister Manturov. In the very beginning we discussed with him several times how to make the Republic of Serbia one of the first countries (at least in Europe) to receive this vaccine. We are also grateful for your willingness to share with us the technology for production. We thank you for our current ability to pack it, and we will soon be able to ensure full cycle production.

Our economy is on the rise but I know there is plenty of room for improvement. We are emphasising high technology. I know that a small country like Serbia has many opportunities to make up for what we have missed and even become one of the European leaders in high technology. In this context, we would like to devote more time to the development and use of artificial intelligence, biomedicine and biotechnology. Today, I had the opportunity to see incredible solutions by Russian companies and the Government of the Russian Federation, and I would like to continue our conversation in this vein in the future.

As for political cooperation, Serbia will follow its principles on all issues. This means, among other things, that we will not introduce any sanctions as regards our friends and partners in the Russian Federation, and will continue developing political and economic cooperation with them. It doesn't even occur to us to yield to this kind of pressure or renounce cooperation with our Russian partners and friends.

As you said, we are bound by historical friendship, historical ties, and many joint victories in two world wars and several conflicts between these wars. The Serbian people remember all this and know how to keep such friendship. As the Prime Minister, I will continue working on promoting our cooperation.

Thank you.