Serbia’s and Macedonia’s path toward EU membership is not easy and they both share many things in common to cooperate and share experiences and as a result the two countries will sign a European integration cooperation memorandum, Deputy Prime Minister Bojan Maricic and Serbia’s Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović agreed Thursday at a meeting in Belgrade as part of the Open Balkan initiative.

Maricic said after the meeting that the idea of making a memorandum of cooperation and upgrading it in the context of the new methodology and when Macedonia started the negotiations is gladly accepted, which will be useful for both countries, because if we work together we will be able to progress faster and to have better results for our citizens.

Both countries have shown a lot in reforms and solving difficult issues, and we think that we have shown ourselves as a credible partner of the European Union and have shown solidarity with the EU, said Maricic at the press conference after the meeting.

That, as indicated by Vice Prime Minister Maricic, gives us the right to ask to be involved in solving the current and future crises related to energy supply, food and electricity supply.

Српската министерка Јадранка Јоксимовиќ рече дека им честитала на Македонија и Албанија за отворањето на преговорите за членство во ЕУ, и дека Србија „земајќи во предвид какви се таа политички барања имала кои го одолжиле нејзиниот пат, го разбира тешкиот пат што го измина Македонија и низ што се помина за да ја постигне целта.“

Serbian Minister Jadranka Joksimović said that she congratulated Macedonia and Albania on the opening of negotiations for EU membership, and that Serbia “taking into account the political demands it had that prolonged its path, understands the difficult path that Macedonia went through to achieve the goal.

We also discussed numerous projects financed by the EU within the framework of the European Investment Plan for the Western Balkans, about the gas interconnector between Serbia and Macedonia, which at this moment is extremely important for the citizens and what are the challenges expecting us, said Joksimović.