At today's meeting in the National Assembly, the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Romania, headed by Radovan Arezina, and Romanian Ambassador H.E. Silvia Davidoiu opined that the two neighbouring countries enjoy excellent cooperation and that they could further strengthen their infrastructure projects and tourism potential.
At the beginning of the meeting, Radovan Arezina, the Head of the PFG with Romania, pointed out that the Friendship Group has 42 members and that parliamentary meetings between the two countries should be more frequent, especially after the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the conflicts in Ukraine which had affected the geopolitical image of Europe and thinned out meetings between parliamentarians. Arezina used the opportunity to, first of all, thank Romania for its principled stance on the integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia and the non-recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed so-called state of Kosovo.
In the continuation, the PFG Head discussed the development opportunities of connecting the two countries and joint appearances at international forums on topics of mutual interest. He also emphasised that by joint action, an initiative could be launched that would facilitate the crossing of commercial vehicles and the passenger documents inspection procedure at the Djerdap I border crossing, with the aim of facilitating and expediting the transport of goods between the two countries.
The officials also discussed other joint projects and mutual connections, through the Danube, as well as EU development funds concerning cross-border cooperation, culture and tourism. Arezina stressed that with funds from the EU fund for cultural heritage and tourism, were used to renovate the fortress in Kladovo, where he is from, which is part of the larger project to restore locations in Smederevo, Pozarevac, Negotin, Zajecar, Veliko Gradiste, Golubac and Majdanpek. The officials shared concerns about population migration and ways to preserve the population in smaller cities through incentives in the fields of economy and agriculture.
H.E. Silvia Davidoiu agreed that meetings at the interparliamentary level have a special importance in the world of diplomacy, adding that she would use her resources to arrange a meeting between parliamentary friendship groups after the Easter holidays. She noted that, although the visits of high officials were not frequent in the previous period, contacts at the working level were not lacking and projects in the field of economy, infrastructure and culture have been increasingly numerous.
The meeting was attended by PFG members Radmila Vasic, Miodrag Gavrilovic, Zsombor Ujvari and Djordjo Djordjic, who also shared ideas about potential cooperation with the Ambassador.
