Dacic: Over One Billion Dollars Expected in Trade with Asean

instagram,com/ivica.dacic.rs

Serbia's trade with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is worth some USD700 million and is expected to exceed one billion in the course of this and next year, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Jakarta on Sept. 4.

Dacic told Serbian media outlets that Serbia was the 52nd country to have signed the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, whose signatories include the U.S., Russia and the European Union.

"We lagged behind something others did long ago. Why does it matter? Of the ten nations [of ASEAN], six have not recognized Kosovo, and I think some recognized it because we haven't kept up enough of a presence in the region. These are countries with populations of 600 million and several thousand billion dollars in GDP put together," Dacic said.

He said acceding to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia had no implications for Serbia's bid to join the EU and did not go against it.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Jakarta, the Serbian foreign minister had separate conversations with his counterparts from Cambodia, Singapore and Brunei about advancing relations and cooperation.