President of Serbia and Monte Negro Svetozar Marovic on His Official Visit to the Slovak Republic

President of Serbia and Monte Negro with his wife arrived to pay an official visit to the Slovak Republic. Talks of both heads of state referred to the development of bilateral cooperation, and current international issues. The key topic of discussions was the existing situation in Serbia and Monte Negro prior to the referendum on splitting the country and the future position of Serbia and Monte Negro. The partners also talked about developing the mutual relations in the fields of economy, culture and education.

President Svetozar Marovic appreciated the good relations of the two countries as well as perspectives of their development within Europe. He presented the Slovak President the ideas of Serbia and Monte Negro regarding Euro-integration procedures. In connection with the recent talks with President of the European Commission Manuel Barosso, he stated referring to the issue of surrendering General Mladic to the European War Crimes Tribunal that „in no case one man can be a barrier to our access to the Euro-integration, and the matter of Mladic needs to settled once and for all. As long as Mladic is at large, Serbia and Monte Negro will be in the European waiting room,” said President Marovic referring to the European reality.

The issue of Kosovo was marked by President Marovic as a central topic as far as the stability of the whole region is concerned. President Marovic added that “no matter what solution will be accepted in connection with Kosovo, it may certainly not have one winner only because having one winner only would mean having a lot of the defeated.” In his opinion, the only possible right solution to the Kosovo issue is long-term talks leading to an agreement of all the parties involved. In this connection, he thanked President Gašparovič and the Slovak party for everything done for the sake of reaching such an agreement.