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| Josef Borrell |
Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell stated today in Belgrade that his country estimates that only through dialogue can a sustainable compromise solution be reached on the Kosovo issue, reiterating that Spain does not accept Kosovo.
"We have repeated the stance of Spain for not recognizing Kosovo and at the same time we appreciate that only through dialogue can be reached a sustainable compromise solution," Borrell said at the joint press conference with the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic.He said Spain believes in dialogue as a solution, as confirmed on the occasion of the agreement between Greece and Macedonia.
Commenting on the comparison of Kosovo and Catalonia issues, the Spanish minister said these two situations have nothing in common.
"What happened in Kosovo has nothing to do with Catalonia. Such comparisons does not matter," Borrell said.
He added that Spain also supports Serbia's European perspective.
"However, we support Serbia's desire to join the European family to continue with the access process. Reforms show that Serbia is advancing in this sphere and Spain supports it to continue in this direction," Borrell said.
The Spanish top diplomat said his visit to Belgrade serves to reiterate her commitment to peace in the Balkans.
Speaking about co-operation between Serbia and Spain, the Spanish diplomacy chief estimated that a greater cultural, economic and educational exchange between the two countries is needed.
Serbia's Foreign Minister Dacic assessed the relations between the two countries as strategic, privileged, friendly, and with constant tendency for improvement.
"I want to thank Spain for its strong support to Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and it is very important that Spain as a big country, a member of the EU, has not accepted Pristina's unilateral act," Dacic said.
He said Serbia opposes the internationalization of the Catalonian issue.
"On the other hand, Serbia opposes the process of the internationalization of the Catalan issue and has no contact with Catalan separatists," Dacic said.
According to his estimates, Serbia and Spain have very good cooperation in international organizations and stressed this cooperation will continue in the future.
"It is very important that good political relations be accompanied by the improvement of economic relations. The trade exchange is about half a billion euros, is higher than it was but relatively low in relation to the opportunities," Dacic said.
He hailed the decision to establish direct flights Madrid-Belgrade and Belgrade-Barcelona.