Turkey and Serbia are determined to further enhance their relations amid these difficult times marked by several challenges, wars and crises, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart in Belgrade, Çavuşoğlu said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also expected to visit the country in the coming weeks.
Çavuşoğlu also noted that Turkey and Serbia's diplomatic missions have expanded.
“Last year, we opened our consulate general in Novi Pazar. We will also open a new consulate office in Nis so that our citizens going to Turkey from Europe can receive help from our police as well as the Serbian police,” he said.
Meanwhile, a bomb threat was reported at the building where Çavuşoğlu and Selakovic were holding their press briefing and the building was emptied.
Highlighting that economic ties are also growing, he said: “We are moving towards the bilateral trade volume of $5 billion determined by our presidents. We believe we will reach half of that this year. The current figures confirm this. Our trade volume exceeded $2 billion in 2021. With a 31% increase in the first quarter, we are moving towards our goals more confidently."
Emphasizing that the amount of Turkish investment in Serbia has increased, Çavuşoğlu stated that investments in Serbia, which provides and supports Turkish companies with significant opportunities, increased from $1 million to $300 million in 10 years.
Noting that Turkey agrees with Serbia on holding the fourth joint economic commission meeting, Çavuşoğlu said: "The war in Ukraine and the exorbitant increases in energy prices are pushing us to different pursuits. Therefore, we need to cooperate more.”
On another note, Çavuşoğlu also underlined that Serbia is vital for stability in the Balkans and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Noting that he and his Serbian counterpart exchanged views on regional issues, Çavuşoğlu said: "We discussed the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We see that Serbia's role is very important for the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans. As Turkey and Serbia, we will continue to make efforts for the stability of the region.”
He also said Turkey will continue to strongly support the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have remained high since the 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian militias and Serbian forces in Kosovo, then a Serbian province stripped of its autonomy.
The conflict left more than 13,000 dead and 1,617 people are still missing. NATO’s intervention in the form of a bombing campaign on Serbia ended the war.
