President addresses regional gathering

President addresses regional gathering

Cavtat -- Serbia will protect its friendships "in east, west, north and south" as the only policy to benefit the people of Serbia and the region, says Tomislav Nikolić.

He was addressing a gathering in Cavtat, Croatia, when he stressed that Serbia encouraged cooperation.

"Serbia has maintained and rebuilt old friendships, created new ones and cleared any misunderstandings it had with other countries," he said at a plenary meeting on Monday entitled Agreement for the New Age: Leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni Process.

Serbia needs investments, he said, adding that it had free trade agreements with many countries of the world that the EU members did not have access to, but also some countries that were not members.

"It is a development opportunity for Serbia," Nikolic remarked.

"On our own, we do not have a product for markets that seek good products and large quantities," he noted, adding that it could only be provided by everyone together.

Agriculture is an export and development opportunity for all the countries of the region and it requires investment and better organisation, the president said.

"We will not get far with small and fragmented production," he pointed out and called on the participants of the meeting to work together.

Croatian President Ivo Josipović said the region was behind many of the EU countries, even their average, and that it was a common task to meet the high standards of the EU.

"It is obvious we are struggling with it, with inherited weaknesses that we do not remove, but there also political reasons sometimes for why we do not take the necessary steps. The fact that we have compatible...