Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke on the phone with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the presidential press office, they discussed the situation in the region, in particular the continuation of the Brussels dialogue, while the US official welcomed the resumption of Vucic's discussions with Hashim Thaci, stressing that the US was hoping a compromise solution could be reached. Vucic said that Serbia was always ready to talk with others.

"I am known as someone who is not overly optimistic, but we shall invest a great deal of energy and effort to reach a compromise solution," said Vucic.

Mitchell said that the U.S. saw Serbia as an important country and an important partner, while Vucic thanked Mitchell for his personal interest in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

The two collocutors agreed to have Belgrade and Washington regularly and frequently exchange information on the course of the dialogue.

At a June 26 hearing at the Senate's Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, Mitchell said that the US was increasing its engagement in the Western Balkans.

"We have intensified communication with Serbia and Kosovo. We are also promoting reforms in Bosnia-Herzegovina," said Mitchell.

He told senators that through active diplomacy in cooperation with the European Union, the US had also supported the "visionary leaders" of Greece and Macedonia, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, in achieving a historic success in the two countries' naming dispute.

See at: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2018&mm=06&dd=28&nav_id=104499