Minister breaks silence on "talk over coffee" with Blair

Minister breaks silence on "talk over coffee" with Blair

BELGRADE -- Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Thursday that "the ministers' conversation with Tony Blair in Belgrade" yesterday was "not secret."

According to her, the former British prime minister was "not hired as a consultant for a fee."

"I am completely certain he was not, because this was really a conversation over coffee," Mihajlovic said, when asked by reporters at the Chamber of Commerce.

She added that Blair and a number of Serbian cabinet ministers who met in Belgrade on Wednesday "talked about how all governments in the world have a serious problem in the first year and how that year is often lost."

"For that reason, during that meeting with Blair the talk was mostly about the Serbian government not losing its first year, but instead passing reform laws, reaching an arrangement with the IMF, and now moving into capital investments," said Mihajlovic.

She added that "Blair is not the only person with whom the Serbian government exchanges experiences on reform processes," something that, according to this high ranking official of the ruling SNS party, "sometimes happens in the limelight, and sometimes not."

She added that the government "will continue to have discussions about the experiences of other countries in reforms, reforms of health care and the economy."

Noting that the meeting has caused "various reactions, primarily from the opposition," Mihajlovic said that "currently there is no difference between Bojan Pajtic (DS) and Vjerica Radeta (SRS)" and that it "actually shows that the SNS is the only party that opens the door of Serbia".

According to the minister, "it is normal that Blair coming to...