Lavrov arrives in Serbia on Monday

BELGRADE - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will arrive in Belgrade on Monday for a two-day visit to discuss with Serbian officials the relations between the two countries and new directions of cooperation.

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic will welcome Lavrov at the airport Nikola Tesla, the Serbia Foreign Ministry stated on Friday.

Dacic and Lavrov will first lay wreaths at the cemetery dedicated to Belgrade's liberators from 1944 and the memorial to Soviet soldiers at Belgrade's cemetery Novo groblje, the ministry said.

Besides Dacic, Lavrov will also meet with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and President Tomislav Nikolic, according to information from Moscow.

The meetings will particularly be focused on improving the political cooperation between the two countries in accordance with their strategic partnership declaration from May 24, 2013, official of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said in Moscow.

Lavrov will also discuss international issues and the situation in the Balkans with the Serbian officials.

Economic cooperation will also be an important topic, Lukashevich noted.

Trade between Serbia and Russia in 2013 reached USD 2 billion, or 15 percent more than in 2012, and continues to increase, according to the data from the Russian customs.

Lavrov will also discuss South Stream with his Serbian colleagues, as well as a reconstruction of the Serbian railway system with the help of a USD 800 million loan from Russia.

The joint Russian and Serbia humanitarian centre in Nis is operating well and it showed its potential during the recent floods in Serbia, Lukashevich remarked.

Russian rescue and...