19th May 2021

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić is staying on a two-day visit to Prague where he met with the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, with whom he discussed Serbia's European path, bilateral relations and future projects of the two countries.

President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, welcomed the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, with the state honours, after which the two presidents attended the ceremony of decorations awarding.

"The order I received today is a great honour for me, but also an additional obligation to fight for Serbian-Czech friendship," said President Vučić after President Zeman awarded him the highest decoration of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion.

President Vučić emphasised that he talked with President Zeman about many concrete things and thanked for the support that the Czech Republic provides to Serbia on its European path.

"We can learn a lot from our Czech friends", said President Vučić, emphasising that the Czech Republic is our traditional friend and expressed hope that Serbia and the Czech Republic will increase the level of economic cooperation and trade in the future.

"Today we had excellent talks on many issues and I want to inform you that President Zeman will visit Serbia before the end of the year", said President Vučić and promised that Serbia, after resolving complicated property problems, would donate the Czech House, a building from In 1928, he also expressed hope to the Czech Republic that President Zeman would attend its opening. He added that members of the Czech minority live mostly in South Banat and represent the real wealth of Serbia, and that is why he wants to be able to have their own house, which belonged to them and was taken away from them in the 1960s.

President Vučić pointed out, after the apology sent publicly to the Serbian people by the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman for participating in the bombing of the former FRY, that today it is wonderful to be a Serb in Prague and that Serbia will never forget the words of the Czech President. He added that Serbia and Serbs will be eternally grateful because of what President Zeman said today - no one else said.

"Serbia will perceive the Czech people not only as friends but also as fraternal people", President Vučić pointed out.

President Vučić reminded that the Serbian delegation expects important talks with numerous Czech companies, as well as that Serbia will try to provide the best conditions for mutual cooperation. He stated that the trade exchange between Serbia and the Czech Republic is increasing year on year and that the number of Czech investors in Serbia is increasing as well.

"We have accepted the idea of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs on additional training for tax policy affairs and I believe that we will succeed in that matter", said President Vučić and expressed hope that Serbia could be as successful as the Czech Republic in that field.

President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, pointed out that the bombing of the former Yugoslavia was a mistake.

"It was worse than a crime, it was a mistake. As a human being, I would like to ask the Serbian people to forgive us", said Czech President Zeman, adding that he had talked with President Vučić about the traditional Czech-Serbian friendship.

"Friendship, which was proven in 1938 when we were betrayed by our Western allies, but also in 1968 - when we were betrayed by our Eastern allies. In both cases, the Serbian people expressed their support, and we thanked them by bombing them. On this occasion, I would like to apologise for the bombing of the former Yugoslavia", said President Zeman. He added that they also discussed the successful development of economic cooperation, Czech companies operating in Serbia, as well as the positioning of the two countries in terms of international relations.

President Zeman pointed out that Serbia is establishing good and correct relations with all key countries in a very successful way. He assessed that the success of Serbia in the field of vaccination is evident because it provided its citizens with vaccines from several countries.

"I appreciate this visit and I gladly remember my visit to Belgrade. I hope that just before the end of my mandate, I will see that city once again", concluded President Zeman.

Accompanied by the Serbian delegation, President Vučić also met today with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Radek Vondráček and on that occasion signed the book of honorary guests of the House of Representatives.

President Vučić also visited the Senate of the Czech Republic and entered himself in the Book of Honorary Guests of the Senate. On that occasion, the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Miloš Vystrčil organised a dinner for the Serbian President.

During the second day of his official visit to the Czech Republic, President Vučić visited the so-called green building "DRN" of the SEBRA company, accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Minister of Industry, Trade and Transport Karel Havlíček and co-owners Petr Nemec and Jan Fidler, where he attended a presentation on projects in Belgrade.

President Vučić also met with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, and on that occasion, he entered himself in the Book of Honorary Guests.

"I am very grateful to Andrej Babiš for the hospitality and good talks", said President Vučić, adding that the topics of conversation were successful vaccination, support for Serbia on the European path, as well as everything that Serbia can do for Czech investors. He noted that, during his two-day visit to the Czech Republic, he talked to several Czech companies and expressed hope that we could achieve even better results in that field.

"We will continue to work on strengthening the rule of law, on subsidy programmes and programmes for attracting foreign investments", said President Vučić, emphasising that Serbia managed to attract more than 60 per cent of total foreign direct investment for the entire region.

"That is what the strength of Serbia is! It is important to provide people with a future, an opportunity to work, earn and live decently", concluded President Vučić.

Source: www.predsednik.rs

Photo: Dimitrije Goll