Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic met with the newly-appointed Ambassador of Japan to Serbia Takahiko Katsumata.

Selakovic noted that the bilateral relations between Serbia and Japan were on an ascending line in the recent years, not only in terms of political dialogue, but also in the field of economic cooperation.

The Minister pointed out that Serbia was most pleased with the fact that the bilateral economic cooperation was gaining traction, with the growing interest of Japanese companies in our market, the implementation of significant investment projects and the opening of new prospects for increasing the volume of trade in goods.

Selakovic pointed out that Japan's support to the preservation of Serbian cultural, historical and religious heritage in Kosovo and Metohija was extremely important to Serbia

Furthermore, Selakovic emphasized that our country highly appreciated the fact that friendly Japan, even during the pandemic, did not stop providing help and support to other countries, Serbia included.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy also said that Serbia was proud of the fact that the two countries had a very long tradition of mutual friendship, and that they reached an agreement to establish 1882, the year when diplomatic correspondence took place between the King Milan I Obrenovic of Serbia and the Japanese Emperor Meiji, as the Year of Friendship between Serbia and Japan.

Minister Selakovic emphasized that Serbia was interested in continuing to further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in the same spirit, through mutual contacts and dialogue on all issues of common interest.

Belgrade,
5 February 2021