Mrkic: Most countries understand Serbia's stand on Ukraine

ATHENS - Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Mrkic told Tanjug on Saturday that a majority of EU member countries have demonstrated understanding for Serbia's stand on the issue of crisis in Ukraine.

After the informal meeting in Athens which gathered 28 EU members and candidate countries including Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey, Mrkic announced that High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton should visit Belgrade in late April.

The agenda of the gathering included topics such as the Eastern Partnership and the crisis in and concerning Ukraine and the talks also covered Syria and other hot spots in the so-called EU's southern neighbourhood, Mrkic said.

Mrkic noted that Serbia was mentioned during the talks on several occasions and in 90 percent of the cases it was referred to with understanding concerning Belgrade's position on the situation in Ukraine.
”We explained our view of the entire situation and reiterated what is already a well-known stand - that a strong government would soon be set up in keeping with the will citizens expressed in the elections and it will voice its stands both in principle and concerning individual events regarding various crisis spots including Ukraine,” he said.

Mrkic added that he had bilateral meetings with several of his colleagues, two of which had been scheduled in advance, that is the meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil and newly-appointed Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.

The ministerial meeting in Athens was chaired by Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Evangelos Venizelos whose country currently holds EU presidency.

According to the release...