PM, Russian ambassador "discuss cooperation"

PM, Russian ambassador "discuss cooperation"

BELGRADE -- Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met on Thursday with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin to discuss "the political and economic cooperation."

Chepurin said that Russia "truly wishes the Serbian government to successfully carry out the planned reforms so that the country and its people could progress," the Serbian government said.

Both sides "agreed that tangible steps need to be defined with a view to improving the two countries' business cooperation, especially in the sectors of chemical industry and agriculture."

Chepurin also today met with First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic "to discuss activities of Serbia in its capacity as holder of the Chairmanship-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)."

The Serbian official and Russian diplomat "focused in particular on the process of implementation of a package of measures agreed in Minsk on February 12 this year and the engagement of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine."

Dacic stressed that Serbia was currently "preparing a framework to extend the SMM's mandate, which should be adopted at an OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna soon."