Dacic at the Celebration of Angola’s Independence Jubilee: Serbia and Angola preserve their traditional friendship

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Serbia Ivica Dacic, who visited Luanda on behalf of President Aleksandar Vucic for the central ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Angola, stated that there is great mutual respect and long-standing friendship between Serbia and Angola and emphasized that Angola respects Serbia’s territorial integrity.

Following the parade held at the memorial complex “Dr. António Agostinho Neto”, Dacic said that Serbia, formerly Yugoslavia, and Angola were great friends and that the cooperation between the two countries is founded on historic ties dating back to Angola’s struggle for liberation from colonialism.
“What is important to say is that Serbia, or rather Yugoslavia, and Angola were great friends. It was a great honor for us that the presidents of Angola remembered, after 50 years of independence, to award an order to Josip Broz Tito for his contribution and the contribution of the then Yugoslavia in Angola’s liberation struggle. This confirms how strong our mutual relations are and how much Yugoslavia helped Angola’s independence — through training, scholarships, education of people and cadres, including the military, as well as through assistance in arms, as they say, so that the struggle could be brought to a successful end,” Dacic said.

He emphasized that Angola respects Serbia’s territorial integrity and voted against Kosovo’s admission to UNESCO and Interpol.
“All this shows that Angola has a truly exceptional and priority relationship with Serbia, as the successor of Yugoslavia. They also presented us with this order for Tito. On the other hand, Angola firmly stands by the principles of respecting Serbia’s territorial integrity. It voted against Kosovo’s admission to UNESCO and against its admission to Interpol, and has always been on our side. Therefore, there is great mutual respect, and I think it is important that, besides Portugal, we were the only European country represented here at the highest level at the celebration of this great anniversary,” said the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister.
Dacic stressed that the Republic of Angola, with about 36 million inhabitants, has great potential for developing economic cooperation with Serbia and that the goal is to further strengthen political and economic ties.
The Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Angola have maintained traditionally friendly diplomatic relations since 1975, when the former SFR Yugoslavia was among the first countries to recognize Angola’s independence and establish diplomatic relations.