EU membership "key foreign policy priority"

EU membership "key foreign policy priority"

BRATISLAVA -- Full EU membership is the key foreign policy priority for Serbia, and the vision of a common European future is a vision shared by all the Western Balkans.

This is according to Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić who spoke in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday.

At an annual meeting of foreign ministers of Visegrad Group and Western Balkans, Dačić said that Serbia is carrying out expedited reforms to achieve the highest European standards in all fields and thereby meet the EU membership criteria.

The Serbian government's plan to end the economic crisis is based on austerity measures, as well as on more substantial budget revenues, mostly through tax collection, Dačić noted.

"Development of the economy - and establishment of sustainable, good governance as a prerequisite for that - is, undoubtedly, among the key issues in the context of the development of the Western Balkan region as a whole," said Dačić, who heads the Serbian delegation attending the Bratislava meeting.

The Serbian foreign minister said that Friday's meeting is another opportunity for a substantial exchange of opinions among Visegrad Group member states and the foreign ministers of Western Balkan states on the current political and economic topics.

Dačić said that he is confident that the exchange of opinions at the Bratislava meeting - in particular the fact that a new regional structure, the Western Balkans Fund, is being established - will contribute to an initiation of a series of regional projects whose implementation will additionally encourage the development of stability and mutual cooperation, including economic progress in the region.

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