Belgrade: President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday held a “productive” meeting with her Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic here and said that bilateral relationship is based on mutual trust, mutual understanding and support for each other on issues of core interest.
“We remain committed to inject more ambition into this vital relationship,” said Murmu, who is the first Indian President to visit Serbia.
During the delegation-level talks, both the Presidents discussed important aspects of India-Serbia bilateral relationship and global and regional issues of common interest.
“I had a constructive and productive meeting with President Vucic this morning on all important aspects of our bilateral relationship and global and regional issues of common interest,” Murmu said in a press statement.
She said the relations between India and Serbia have been unique since the days of the Non-Alignment Movement. “Our relationship is based on mutual trust, mutual understanding and support for each other on issues of core interest,” she said.
“We also resolved to build further on our long-standing bilateral ties, especially in trade and investment, science and technology, including information and digital technologies, and to promote people-to-people contacts further. We agreed to strengthen our coordination and cooperation in the UN and other multilateral fora,” she added.
On his part, President Vucic thanked India for supporting the territorial integrity of Serbia and respecting international legal norms and the UN Charter. “Serbia will treat India in the same way and we believe that in every institution in the world there is room for our closest cooperation, which no one can violate,” he emphasised.
Murmu is visiting Belgrade at a time when President Vucic has placed the Serbian army on full combat alert and ordered its units to move closer to the border with Kosovo, amid tensions in the region.
Vucic said that he and President Murmu discussed cooperation in the six most important areas, including defence.
“Serbia is proportional to its size, which is 200 times smaller than India, which is both a producer and a buyer of all kinds of military equipment, and I believe that we can cooperate on gunpowder, ammunition and explosives,” he said.
He said that other areas of cooperation can be in the field of pharmacy, especially generic drugs, industrial production, cinematography and the IT sector.
He added that Serbia mostly exports apples to India, but that there is interest in raspberries and berries, seeds, and frozen fruit.
“Those are the six most important areas, we continue to deepen friendly relations and political cooperation,” he said.
Earlier, President Murmu was warmly welcomed by President Vucic in a ceremony at the Presidential Palace with full State honours.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic called on President Murmu and hosted a working lunch for her. “Various issues pertaining to India-Serbia cooperation were discussed during the luncheon meeting,” the president’s office said.
