Serbian Emergency Situation Minister Advisor Dejan Racic in a meeting with Iran's Ambassador in Belgrade Majid Fahimpour expressed his country's readiness to bolster ties and make joint ventures with Iran.
Referring to commercial, economic, agricultural and cultural activities in the southern Serbian city of Nis, which is the second largest in the country, Racic said on Friday that traders of this city are ready to invest in joint ventures with Iran, Fars News Agency reported.
"People of Iran and Serbia are interested in expanding good relations and cooperation in various domains and Iran sees no impediment in the expansion of mutual cooperation," the Iranian ambassador said.
Fahimpour announced that an Iranian economic delegation, headed by Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade and Head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran Valiollah Afkhamirad will visit Belgrade in mid-September to study ways to expand mutual economic cooperation.
As reported, Serbian Education Minister Srđan Verbić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication Rasim Ljajić, and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić will visit Iran this year, indicating good mutual ties and interest in expansion of ties.
Iran and Serbia have in recent years made great efforts to further develop bilateral relations and cooperation in all fields.
In a meeting between Fahimpour and Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic in June, the two sides underlined the need for both Tehran and Belgrade to boost cooperation and exchange experiences to eradicate terrorism in the Middle East and the Balkans, and vowed to expand cooperation in anti-terrorism campaign.
In a meeting earlier this month, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Serbian Foreign Minister Dačić blasted the big powers for their key role in the ongoing extremist activities and violence in the Middle East.
"It seems that the US is playing with the ISIL pawn in the region," Larijani said in a meeting with the visiting Serbian foreign minister.
The Serbian minister, for his part, criticized the international community's double standards vis-à-vis the war on terror, saying the policy has exacerbated violence and extremism.