The Republic of Serbia attaches special importance to the work of the UN as the most important international organisation in the foundation of which it took part and organisation whose goals it fully respects, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said on the occasion of the celebration of the Day of the UN in Serbia.

The UN has an irreplaceable role as a universal international organisation committed to preservation of peace and stability in the world, and development of human kind as a whole, Dacic said in the welcoming speech.

He especially underscored that he is grateful for cooperation and support the UN team and UN agencies offered to Serbia after the catastrophic floods in May, and expressed gratitude to the UN Mission in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM).

Serbia attaches special importance to the UNMIK presence and status-neutral actions in KiM in keeping with Resolution 1244, as well as the contribution of all UN agencies, bodies and programmes, especially in the context of the dialogue conducted between Belgrade and Pristina with EU as the mediator, Dacic said.

He expressed the satisfaction that the conference on participation of regional countries in UN peacekeeping missions recently held in Belgrade and expressed gratitude to UN Secretary General's Representative for Serbia and Head of the UN Belgrade Office Peter Due for launching the initiative and recognised Serbia's willingness to promote peace and contribute to peace in the region.

Dacic stated that the Western Balkans as the former zone of peacekeeping operations has turned into a region that exports stability, as demonstrated by the region's participation in numerous peacekeeping missions worldwide.

The government of the Republic of Serbia is cooperating with around 20 specialised UN agencies and organisations on many development and political processes and activities relevant to the entire region, Dacic underscored.

He noted that Serbia and UN began their consultations on defining the new partnership framework for the period from 2016 to 2020.

As a member of the UN Economic and Social Council as of 2014, Serbia is actively participating in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and formulation of the global development agenda through defining new development goals and sub-goals for the period from 2015 to 20130, Dacic explained.

Serbia and the UN are attaching special attention to the strengthening of regional cooperation, search for a solution to the issue of refugees and IDPs, improvement of the position of vulnerable groups and alleviation of consequences of climate changes, Dacic said and added that the UN elected Serbia as one of the six countries to participate in the consultations on the contribution to development.

The Serbian foreign minister noted that the world is facing serious threats and challenges which call for special multilateral engagement and efficient UN actions, including the Ebola virus epidemics, security crisis in Ukraine and spreading of the international terrorism in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant poses a major danger.