FM: Region should build ties based on interests

FM: Region should build ties based on interests

BELGRADE -- Countries in the region should focus on finding common interests in order to overcome recent incidents, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has said.

Dacic on Friday addressed his regular monthly news conference to say that these incidents "once again strained relations between Serbia and Croatia and Serbia and Albania," Beta reported.

"The Serbian-Croatian and Serbian-Albanian relations are important for the whole region. Overall, we all need to focus on trying to define common interests and avoid 'the drone syndrome'," he said, in apparent reference to a football game incident last October.

"There are historic things that we do, and then the things that take us two steps back," he remarked.

Dacic also stressed that Serbia "wants to have best possible relations with Croatia as a neighbor and a very important country in the region - while Serbia is certainly the most important country in the region - because our relations are very important for the overall stability in the region."

He then "expressed hope that the latest incident when a Croatian flag was burned by Hague indictee Vojislav Seselj and statements of Serbian Minister of Labor Aleksandar Vulin will not damage earlier agreements between the Serbian and Croatian sides," the news agency reported.

"We wish to separate those issues that need to be talked about more, that are open issues from the past, from those concerning current bilateral relations and cooperation on our European path, and establish common interests and common projects for the future. The nature and course of our relations will depend on the possibility of approaching that in a truly responsible manner."

He...