“This year, Serbia and Portugal are celebrating 140 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which is a good opportunity to agree on a series of activities so as to work on the further improvement of relations between our two countries”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačic, who met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, João Gomes Cravinho today.
"I believe that this visit is very important and that it opens up space for the intensification of our political relations," Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačic told the reporters after the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačic stated that Portugal was our friendly country and that we had no unresolved, disputed bilateral issues. He added that he was grateful for the support that Portugal provided to the integration of Serbia with the EU.

"We want the intensity of our mutual visits to be as high as possible, because such visits are always welcome as an impulse to the development of our cooperation. Our two ministries will certainly continue with the high-quality and particular cooperation through the political consultations we will hold", Ivica Dačić highlighted.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić noted that the economic relations between Serbia and Portugal were still at the level at which they could be, nevertheless he added that for the first time this year, the foreign trade exchange between the two countries would exceed one hundred million euros.

"This is a good and historically, perhaps, the most significant result, but is certainly less compared to what we could do regardless of the fact that we are geographically distant and that we may have different foreign policy priorities when it comes to some regions"  Ivica Dačić pointed out.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal João Gomes Cravinho highlighted that he expected his visit to Serbia to mark the beginning of the intensification of relations between the two countries in various fields.

"I especially wanted to come here this year, because we are celebrating 140 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations," João Gomes Cravinho stressed and added that Portugal and Serbia were different but that there was a continuity in the relations between our peoples and that this should be celebrated.

He stated that there was not enough intensity in the relations between the two countries and agreed with Minister Dačić that it was good that the foreign trade exchange would exceed one hundred million euros, but that we could do even better.

"We are going through various transformations very quickly and energy and digital transformation offer new opportunities for our companies and public administrations. In Portugal, both of these areas are progressing very fast and we see them as areas where Serbia and Portugal can cooperate," João Gomes Cravinho noted.

He pointed out that Portugal supported the process of EU integration of Serbia and other countries of the Western Balkans.

"We understand all the problems that exist here and we support the dialogue and the mechanisms that can be found to promote faster integrations", João Gomes Cravinho explained.

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