MINUTES OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

2 OCTOBER 2013,BELGRADE

The first joint session of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia was held in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. Both sides affirmed their commitment to the further promotion of good and stable bilateral relations, as well as to the strengthening of political dialogue and cooperation at all levels.

The Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Slovenia will continue their good cooperation at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. In that regard, the Republic of Serbiaparticularlyappreciates the support of the Republic of Slovenia in the process of Serbia's European integration and the beginning of its EU membership negotiations. In this vein, they both recognized the importance of regional cooperation and respect for legally binding agreements – also Agreement on succession issues.

Both countries expressed their readiness to approach all issues constructively to the effect of reaching mutually acceptable solutions which will contribute to the further promotion of their overall relations.

AT THE JOINT SESSION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS WERE SIGNED:

  1. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Energy Field between the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spacial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia.
  1. AgreementbetweentheGovernmentofR. SerbiaandtheGovernmentofR. Sloveniaonthe Exchange and MutualProtection of ClassifiedInformation.
  1. ProtocolbetweentheMinistryofEducation, ScienceandTechnologicalDevelopmentofR. Serbia and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of R. Slovenia on Cooperation in the Field of Education.
  1. MemorandumofUnderstandingbetweentheGovernmentofR. Serbia and the Government of R. Slovenia on Economic Cooperation on Third Markets.
  1. Letter of intent with regard to the handover of the ormer SFRY residence in Rome to the Republic of Slovenia.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

  • Affirms the good and stable bilateral as well as multilateral political relations between the two countries to whose further promotion the session will give an important impetus.
  • Recognizes the signing of the Letter of intent with regard to the handover of the former SFRY residence in Rome to the Republic of Slovenia, by which Ministers of Foreign Affairs agreed to resolve a long lasting open issue.
  • Recognises the importance of implementation of the Agreement on Succession issues for regional cooperation. Welcomes the readiness to further resolve succession issues according to the legally binding Agreement on Succession Issues and in a mutually acceptable and satisfactory way.
  • Stresses the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoD) between the governments of Serbia and Slovenia on economic cooperation on third markets, which will contribute to deepen cooperation and will help companies from both countries to penetrate into the markets, which are in the common interest of businessmen of both countries. The aim of MoD is to promote the development of economic cooperation in the fields of mutual interest on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and reciprocity also on third markets.
  • Recognise the progress achieved in implementation of theEU Strategy for the Danube Region and close cooperation in the process of establishing the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region. By evaluating the candidature of the Slovenian Ministry of the Economic Development and Technology for the seat of the Management Authority for the future transnational program "South East Gateway" as most comprehensive and most substantial both sides are supporting the Slovenian candidature.

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TRADE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

  • Positively assess the regular sessions of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation and, accordingly, the agreement to organize the next, fifth session, in the Republic of Slovenia, in the first half of 2014.Coordination of the activities aimed at implementing the agreements reached at the fourth session of the Joint Committee (Belgrade, May 2013) will continue.
  • Aims to organize not later than June 2014, a meeting of the Working Group for Information and Communication Technologies. Propose the following as possible topics to be discussed at the meeting: interoperability in the area of e-government and e-business, application of information and telecommunication technologies in the area of energy efficiency, innovative information and communication technologies and cooperation in the framework of EU and other international projects.
  • Encourages appropriate ministries in cooperation with other relevant institutions of the two countries to promote activities, at the level of the two Slovenian business clubs in the Republic of Serbia (in Belgrade and Novi Sad) and Serbian-Slovenian Business Club in Ljubljana, aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries, primarily by increasing the volume of bilateral trade, mutual investments and joint appearance at third markets.

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TRANSPORTATION

  • Proposes for the coming period, consideration of the possibilities for expanding the scope of regular public air services on routes between the two countries.
  • Republic Of Serbia and Republic of Slovenia are jointly coordinating the EU Strategy for the Danube Region – Priority Area 1B. During their work over the past two years, excellent cooperation was achieved and 150 projects were identified for implementation in the coming period. The most important projects identified and supported by all 14 countries, which the coordinators recently proposed for EU funding are:
  1. Study on rail Corridor linking EU and non-EU countries in the Danube region: Munich-Istanbul rail Freight Corridor („WesternBalkansCorridor”)
  2. Danube Region Intermodal Strategy (DRIS).

In the framework of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia are organizing second stakeholder conference "The Danube region transport days 2013: Towards integrated transport system in the Danube region" on 3 October 2013, in Belgrade.

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AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND

WATER MANAGEMENT

  • Cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Slovenia in the area of agriculture is carried out through trade in agricultural and food products, cooperation between relevant veterinary and phyto-sanitary services, as well as exchange of experiences in the fields of veterinary medicine, animal well-fare and health protection, food safety and plant protection. The two countries share the common the position on NO-GMO soya production in the Danube Region. Slovenian experts participated in a number of projects implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management.
  • There are also large interests in the fields of forestry, forest fire protection, the use of wood, particularly for energy production and in the field of environment.
  • In recent years, trade in agricultural and food products between the two counties has marked an upward trend.
  • Ministers discussed about organisation of both ministries, especially of the inspection services within the ministries.

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ENERGY, DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

  • Strengthening cooperation in the fields of environmental and nature protection (including management of protected areas of regional and international importance) by transfering experience in transposition and implementation of the EU legislation (particularly in the NATURA 2000 network development), use of EU funds, development of directive implementation plans.
  • Strengthening energy cooperation through the exchange of experience and information on reforming and restructuring the electric power sector, support of the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, as well as transfer of experiences in transposition and implementation of EU legislation and the use of EU funds in the energy area.

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It was agreed that the next joint session of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia be held in Ljubljana, in the second half of 2014