Letta: Serbia should be 29th EU member

Source: Tanjug

ANCONA -- Italian PM Enrico Letta says his country will continue supporting Serbia on its EU road as it wants the country to become the next - 29th - EU member state.

(Tanjug)

"When it comes to Italy’s foreign policy, this is Italy’s national priority, Letta said. We will continue to work to that end and now, Belgrade and Brussels need to take the next steps," Letta said at a joint press conference with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić after a joint meeting of the two countries’ governments in Ancona, Italy.
Today's Italy-Serbia summit once again underlined in a most obvious way the fact that Serbia is a very important cooperation partner to Italian businessmen, Letta said.

"We wanted the summit to be held here in the Marche region, where business is done primarily by small and medium-sized enterprises, the Italian prime minister said. In addition, we wanted to talk about cooperation in the field of industrial production," he added.

Recalling the fact that his country is taking over the EU presidency on July 1 next year, Letta said that Italy will do everything to make the period a time of growth for Europe, after five years of rigorous savings.

Letta emphasized the importance of holding the summit, noting that it is the first such meeting for the current Italian government, and that they have planned similar meetings with a number of other countries, such as France, Russia and Spain.

It shows how much relations with Serbia, both in the area of foreign policy and in the area of trade and economy, are important to Italy, said Letta.

The central part of Italian foreign policy is the Balkans and Serbia, which could play a key role in this region of Europe, the Italian prime minister said.

Dačić thanked Letta for Italy’s strong support of Serbia's efforts in European integration, stressing that in terms of economic cooperation, Italy has outpaced other Serbia’s partners and has become its major trading partner.

"We expect a lot of good things next year; we expect that the period during the presidency of the Union by two of our friends – Greece and Italy – will be a good time for Serbia,” said Dačić.

We are bound by traditional friendship and Italy should "take its place in the Balkans," Dačić said. "If it does not do that, somebody else will,” he added.

“We want our friends to support important decisions in the future, that is, to help ensure that the intergovernmental conference, which means the official start of (Serbia’s) accession negotiations with the EU, is held at the end of January or even end of December, if possible,” Dačić said.

When it comes to Serbia’s economic cooperation with other countries, Italy is now ahead of Germany and Russia, he said.

More than 500 Italian companies, primarily from the automotive and textile industries, are doing business in Serbia, employing between 20,000 and 25,000 people and having an annual turnover of about EUR 2.5 billion, said Dačić.

He called on the Italian partners to take part in the implementation of an agreement the two countries have signed to improve strategic cooperation in the energy sector.

The agreement was ratified by the Serbian parliament, he said, adding that the Italian side needs to say if it wants the project to continue.

The project amounts to EUR 800 million, said Dačić.

The officials of the two governments also discussed an infrastructure project that would connect Bari (Italy), Bar (Montenegro), Belgrade (Serbia) and Timisoara (Romania), said the Serbian prime minister.