Statement by the President of the Republic on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic of Serbia

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from English to French – Published July 18, 2018

Section: International, development and francophonie

DECLARATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Elysée – Tuesday, July 17th, 2018

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to have received in Paris today the President of the Republic of Serbia. Dear Aleksandar, know that you are always welcome here. We had a long face-to-face exchange and a friendly working lunch to discuss a lot of topics I'm going to come back to. You arrived by congratulating me for the victory of the French team at the World Cup and I wanted to congratulate you for my part for the victory of Novak DJOKOVIC who won his fourth title at Wimbledon on Sunday.

But beyond sport, our meeting today took place at a very special moment in the relationship between our two countries. Indeed, 2018 is the year of the centenary of the end of the First World War and it brings us first of all to plunge back into this history that we share, this history that brought France and Serbia to fight together, in allies, and to behave since and always an immense respect. This story of an abominable war too, during which the Serbian people demonstrated extraordinary bravery, while Serbia lost more than a quarter of its population.

We sometimes forget how close we were in these trials. In 1915, France evacuated the Serbian army to the island of Corfu. It is our country that has re-equipped and trained the new Serbian army which, together with the soldiers of France, liberated Serbia in the autumn of 1918 and you gave me a moment ago a gift of moving documents between a President and a King who preceded us, and whose reciprocal histories oblige us.

Even today, our soldiers are side by side in foreign operations, I think in particular, in Mali, in the European Mission EUTM Mali, in the Central African Republic in the Minusca and EUTM RCA, and in Lebanon in the framework of the Finul – and this is what we have recalled here too in our interviews. And I take this opportunity to thank Serbia for its important contribution to the security of Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

We will have the opportunity to remember all these founding moments of the European aspiration for peace in Paris, on November 11th, and I thank you for having accepted the invitation that I had made you to come to participate in this Forum on Peace on November 11th. This will not lead me to delay the pleasure I will have in responding to your invitation to come to Serbia, you will come back to it in a few moments. We have also mentioned it and I wish to be able to honor this commitment that I made and this invitation that you gave me.

We did not just talk about these military commitments and that common past, but also about the bilateral and regional situation. In terms of the regional situation, Serbia is engaged in negotiations for membership of the European Union. There are criteria to be fulfilled, progress to be made and I hope that France can accompany your country on this path and help solve the most sensitive issues, we have also mentioned.

I welcome our excellent cooperation in the field of security against terrorism, organized crime and irregular immigration. Serbia has shown that it is a reliable partner in this area and it is clear to those who doubt it here that European co-operation with the whole Balkan region is essential to ensure our common security.

We share, on all these topics that are both bilateral and regional, the same will, the stability of the whole region, the sovereignty of each and the capacity offered to each country in the region to not give in to any foreign influence or any disturbance and for me, also the stability of the European project which supposes a stable Balkan region; and Serbia plays a particularly important role.

We also mentioned the development of our bilateral relations and the growing interest of French companies in Serbia. Our trade has doubled in the last ten years. The past few months have seen tremendous improvements with the decisions I have made, in terms of infrastructure, transport, energy and sustainable development, and I hope we can continue on this path together.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I would once again like to confirm to President VUCIC my wish to pay a visit to Serbia this year as I was committed to, and I wish to thank him for our fruitful exchanges and assure him of a new both feelings of deep friendship that France has for her country.

Thank you.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please accept our apologies should the grammar and / or sentence structure not be perfect.