Sweden strongly supports Serbia's EU accession

BELGRADE - Swedish Ambassador to Serbia Christer Asp said on Tuesday that Sweden will continue to offer strong support to Serbia's EU accession.

Asp said for Belgrade TV Pink that Sweden advocates the accession of new countries, such as Serbia, and announced that his country will continue to strongly support Serbia on its EU pathway.

He underlined that the relations between the two countries are excellent and that culture has always been one of the priorities, but added that there is room for improvement of relations in the areas of economy and trade.

The dialogue with the Serbian ambassador in Stockholm on promotion of trade between the two countries is under way, Asp said.

Asked when Swedish furniture chain IKEA will begin to operate in Serbia, Asp said that he expects that this company, which has been cooperating with Simpo for 30 years already, will launch construction next year and the works are expected to be over by 2016.

Speaking about the Swedish companies which do business in Serbia, Asp said that there is a total of 80 and that all of them find fault with the red tape and corruption, but underlined that he is glad that the Serbian government is committed to improving the climate for investments, reforms and the fight against corruption.

Asked whether a change in the country's foreign policy is possible after the departure of Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, Asp said that Sweden has a new minister now and that he does not expect any big turn in the Swedish foreign policy.

Photo Tanjug Video (archive)