Serbian foreign minister travels to East Africa

First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic was on an official visit to the Republic of Burundi this week.

According to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affair (MFA), Dacic was received by top officials of that country.

Dacic met with President of the Republic of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza, Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation Alain Aime Njamitwe, and with Secretary General of the country's ruling party Evariste Ndayishimiye.

Dacic "expressed his satisfaction with the visit to the Republic of Burundi, and recalled that the two countries are bound by the traditional friendship from the times of Tito (Josip Broz) and the former Yugoslavia," and recalled that Yugoslavia recognized Burundi in 1962.

He said that a memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday between the Serbian MFA and Burundi's Ministry of External Relations and International Cooperation, and that "a dozen more agreements are yet to be signed."

Dacic "stressed that there are no obstacles for improving cooperation in the field of politics, economy and education in particular":

"We will make a plan of mutual cooperation in the field of political consultations, military, police cooperation, economic cooperation and scholarships for students' education."

Dacic said he expected Burundi's minister of external relations and international cooperation, and the country's president to visit Serbia.

Burundi's senior officials informed Dacic about the main interior political goals of the current government of Burundi, with a special emphasis on achieving national unity after a series of turbulent decades, the Serbian MFA said in a statement.