BELGRADE, May 13. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic explained that Belgrade needs to cooperate with Kiev, which has not recognized Kosovo, which is why it cordially welcomes Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Vladimir Zelensky’s wife Elena in Serbia.
“What do you want from me, not to talk to a country with 40 million people, which has never done anything wrong to Serbia? Which has not recognized Kosovo? And I have the task and responsibility to ask them not to be on the other side in the vote (on admission Kosovo – ed.) of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. And so that they will not be against us in the UN General Assembly,” Vucic told reporters.
The EU Commissioner for Enlargement arrived in Belgrade on Monday. His visit coincided with the stay of Kuleba and Zelenskaya in Serbia, with whom Vučić met before the conversation with the European Commissioner. Vučić assured Kuleba that the Serbian ambassador would soon return to his duties in Kyiv.
During a joint press conference with Varhelyi, the Serbian leader said that he was receiving guests from Ukraine “not because he is spineless.”
«»Not to mention that it is normal to cooperate with Ukraine, and today we talked about the economic forum that should be organized here in Belgrade, how to attract Ukrainian businessmen, and vice versa. Explain to me what is bad here. Do you want to say now, What will a Russian hire me? I’m neither a Russian, nor a European, nor an American,” the Serbian president added.
He also said that Serbia is soon expected to receive the first 125 million euros as part of the EU growth plan for the Western Balkans. The President of Serbia noted that trade turnover with the EU in 2023 amounted to 50.8 billion euros, of which 24.8 billion for the first time came from Serbian exports, thanks to manufacturing companies with capital from Germany, Italy, and France. In total, according to Serbian statistics, the EU accounted for 59.7% of Serbia’s total trade turnover in 2023.
At the end of February, Vučić, at the South-Eastern Europe — Ukraine summit in Albania, said that the EU's proposed growth plan for the Western Balkans countries gives them the opportunity to enter a market with 400 million consumers and other economic advantages.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in October 2023 that the European Union intends to invest six billion euros to promote reforms in the Western Balkan states with a view to their subsequent integration into the union.