BELGRADE, April 24 (Xinhua) -- European integration of Serbia and the region is among top priorities of Belgium, visiting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Tuesday during his meeting with Serbian leaders.
The prime minister arrived in Serbia on Monday evening and separately met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on Tuesday to discuss the relations between the two countries, the ties in the region as well as the European integration of Serbia.
At a press conference at the presidency building, Michel said that he sees Serbia as the key factor in the Balkans and a country of immense importance for the future of the EU, adding that he is among European leaders who put the strategic position of this region on the top of their priorities.
He continued that his visit to Serbia helped him to find possibilities for further strengthening bilateral relations, the commercial and economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as increasing the potential for new investment.
Vucic said that he told Michel that the country's biggest obstacle on the European path is achieving an agreement with the authorities in Kosovo.
Kosovo is a southern province of Serbia, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia rejects it and considers Kosovo its own province.
He said that Serbia is ready for agreement-based-solutions and "for difficult decisions, but both sides must make compromises", and revealed that he talked with Michel about different approaches, solutions and problems in that regard.
At a press conference in the government building, Brnabic stressed that last year the trade exchange between Serbia and Belgium reached 540 million euros and estimated that there is significant space to expand the economic cooperation.
Michel and Brnabic both praised the good cooperation of Belgian and Serbian police in the fight against organized crime.
Michel said that his visit aims to strengthen bilateral ties, as well as to show Belgium's "decisiveness to play an active role in order to understand regional relations better and achieve stability and sincerity in relations with Serbia". (1 euro = 1.22 U.S. dollars)
