Aleksandar Vucic has stated that he expects that Chapters 32 and 35 will be opened in Serbia's EU accession negotiations by the year's end.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated on Thursday that he expects that Chapters 32 on financial control and 35 on Kosovo will be opened in Serbia's EU accession negotiations by the year's end.

“Chapter 35 is particularly problematic for Serbia as it deals with the issue of Kosovo,” Vucic said at a joint press conference after a meeting with Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of Great Britain Philip Hammond in Belgrade.

Thanking the British official for the support Serbia is getting on its EU pathway, Vucic underlined that Chapter 35 will be disused in greater detail in the continuation of the dialogue on normalization of relations with Pristina in Brussels on October 13.

Vucic said that he and Hammond discussed the continuation of the dialogue with Pristina, particularly protection of the monasteries in Kosovo, the request (submitted by Albania) for Kosovo's UNESCO admission, the refugee crisis, relations in the region and continuation of the economic and political reforms in Serbia.

Vucic said that he has accepted Hammond's proposal for establishing a strategic dialogue and constant contacts between the two countries' deputy ministers of foreign affairs.