Vucic: I believe in future friendships between the Serbs and Albanians

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said today that he had discussed with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski how to help ordinary people and how to remove all obstacles and enable free trade and the free flow of goods and people.

Vucic stated this at a press conference after the meeting with Rama and Kovacevski as part of the Open Balkan initiative, which was held in the town hall of the town of Bardolini in Verona.

The President of Serbia stated that there were issues on which Serbia and Albania did not agree, such as the issue of Kosovo, but also that "instead of blaming each other, we should talk about the economy and better relations between the states".

"What should we do? Should we continue with the conflicts? Should a new Ukraine happen to us? Many people in Serbia expect a conflict. What do you expect? That the political burden becomes even heavier for the Serbs and Albanians? I will do everything to avoid that and I think Edi is doing the same. We know what our differences are and we live with that. People should be in contact and I believe in the future friendship of the Serbs and Albanians," Vucic said.

He stated that he was discussing cooperation with Rama; that they might sometimes have conflicting statements, but he added that as Prime Minister Ana Brnabic noted, the economy was the basis of the relationship between the two countries. He added that it was important that the citizens of those countries felt safe and well-received when they went to other countries.

"We lead a responsible policy, as serious people do, it is easy to get political points by insulting someone else. We know the differences between us, and we can live with that because our people have to live with each other. I believe in future friendships between Serbian and Albanian people and I believe that the relationship is better than it was thanks to our Albanian friends," Vucic said.

He pointed out that an agreement had been reached on the completion of the process of securing common work permits between the three countries, members of the Open Balkan.

"We also discussed the receipt of new identification cards and all three of us agreed that we would be able to make progress in the coming months on this matter. We agreed on the completion of the process of securing work permits and that would be the basis, dare I say, the basis of economic cooperation between all of us," Vucic pointed out.