Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Russia’s Ambassador in Belgrade Alexander Chepurin to discuss preparations for the announced visit to Serbia by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A statement from the president’s cabinet quoted Vucic as saying that “it is a great honour for Serbia to play host to the President of Russia once more”, adding that the visit is an expression of Putin’s respect for the country and the traditional friendly relations between the two countries.

Vucic and Chepurin agreed on the next steps in preparing Putin’s official visit next January.

The statement said that Vucic expressed support to Putin in implementing pension reforms which he is convinced will bring the Russian state and people huge benefits in future. The president and ambassador expect the coming meeting of the mixed inter-governmental cooperation committee to strongly stimulate trade and both countries’ economic progress, the statement said.

Putin’s visit to Serbia has been announced several times by the media but the date was not officially confirmed until recently.