Serbian Foreign Minister in Jordan Talks about Cooperation Between Two Countries

Nikola Selakovic and Ayman Safadi (Photo:Beta/MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/MO)

Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic and Ayman Safadi, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Jordan, have met in Amman to discuss ways to boost the cooperation between their countries and sign several agreements. 

According to the Serbian Foreign Ministry’s official statement from the evening of Aug. 25, the two officials have arranged the signing of several agreements between their ministries. These documents will concern the protection and promotion of investments; the ban on double taxation; the abolishment of visas for those holding diplomatic and official passports, as a first step towards complete and permanent abolition of visas for the citizens of both Serbian and Jordan, and air traffic, i.e. air services. 

Following the meeting, Selakovic said that he was the first Serbian foreign minister to visit Jordan in three decades, and added that the talks had gone well and “in extremely good humor.” “We had a hiatus in communication between our two countries, a 34 year gap; there had been a lack of official visits, [although] there had been a few meetings on the margins, but there had been no official visits in over three decades,” the Serbian foreign minister said. 

Selakovic expressed his conviction that once Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Jordanian King Abdullah II had met, the cooperation between the two countries would become much faster and of higher-quality, the statement further reads. 

“We have a 70 years long history of diplomatic relations, almost half of which has passed almost in utter silence. […] Jordan is the only country [in the Middle East] that Serbia doesn’t have even an embassy in. This is likely a consequence of reckless and poor politics from 2004, when the decision to close [the Serbian Embassy to Jordan] was made,” Selakovic said.