Dacic to attend EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Conference

BELGRADE / ATHENS – An EU-Western Balkans ministerial conference is taking place in Thessaloniki on Thurdsay, and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is attending.

Dacic arrived in Thessaloniki on the eve of the meeting, and is attending a dinner organized for the heads of the foreign delegations by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece Evangelos Venizelos, who chairs the event, the Serbian
Foreign Ministry said in a release.

The conference will begin with a working breakfast for the foreign ministers of the Western Balkans and European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele.
“The Ministerial Conference is an opportunity to re-affirm the European future of the region. The meeting, organized by Greece as the holder of the EU Presidency, symbolically marks one decade since the adoption of the Thessaloniki Agenda, which paved the way for the European integration of the Western Balkans,” the release said.

After recent visits to Serbia by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fuele, the participation in the conference in Thessaloniki will be yet another opportunity to confirm Serbia’s commitment to EU integration, the release said.

The meeting in Thessaloniki will provide Dacic with the opportunity to hold a number of bilateral meetings. On Thursday, he will meet with Italian Foreign Minister Frederico Mogerini.

Greece, the holder of the EU Presidency for the first half of 2014, said that the conference in Thessaloniki will be an opportunity for the EU and the countries in the Western Balkans to reconfirm their commitment to the latter’s European perspective.
“At the same time it is important to determine ways of further...