News

The bilateral political consultations of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Serbia took place on 2 November in Belgrade. In a meeting with the Assistant Minister for European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Marina Jovićević, the Director of the European Countries Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Vidmantas Purlys expressed support for Serbia’s integration into the European Union and discussed possibilities of strengthening the bilateral cooperation between Lithuania and Serbia.

During the consultations, the officials discussed Serbia’s progress in implementing reforms required on the EU path and the process of the EU facilitated dialogue for the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Lithuania’s representatives highlighted the importance of cooperation between the candidate country for EU accession – Serbia – and the EU in the field of foreign policy, and of gradual harmonization of Serbia’s foreign policy with the EU decisions.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the Eastern Partnership, energy security, the situation in the Western Balkans, Turkey, and underlined the importance of Serbia’s role in strengthening regional cooperation, promoting good neighbourly relations and addressing the migration crisis.

On 17 December 2013, during the period of Lithuania’s Presidency of the EU Council, Ministers for European Affairs agreed on a mandate for negotiations with Serbia and adopted a joint position for accession negotiations. Serbia has now opened four out of a total of 35 chapters in its accession negotiations with the EU.