Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met on Thursday with President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiades, whom he welcomed in Belgrade earlier in the day.

Speaking after the meeting, Anastasiades - who was throughout their joint news conference addressing Vucic as "friend" and "dear president" - pointed out that relations between our two countries are deeply rooted in historic, friendly and religious ties, and that their mutually beneficial cooperation is safe.

The same is true, continued the Cypriot president, of all the other fields for further deepening of that cooperation, "which is in the interest of our peoples."

Anastasiades told reporters that he and Vucic spoke about the European path of Serbia and Belgrade's negotiations, which, as he said, represent a "long and painful" process, bearing in mind the significant progress our country has made.

For Anastasiades, there is no doubt that the future of Serbia is in Europe, and he reiterated readiness to share with Belgrade the experience and knowledge that his country has acquired as a member of the EU over the last 14 years, regarding harmonization and alignment with the EU achivments.

Pointing out that Cyprus is an EU partner and a friendly country to Serbia, Anastasiades said he was confident that the European Council will next June, when deciding on Serbia's progress, make a "serious evaluation" and draw conclusions that would encourage the government in Belgrade to continue with reforms.

"Friend president, you can rely on our strong support for the territorial integrity of Serbia. The Republic of Cyprus does not recognize the unilaterally declared Kosovo for as long as (UN Security Council) Resolution (1244) is in force," said the Cypriot president, adding that as long as the resolution is in force, "the declaration of Kosovo's independence will be unlawful."

See at: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2018&mm=05&dd=10&nav_id=104128