Cyprus-Serbia Presidents meet in Belgrade, discuss "excellent" bilateral relations

President Nikos Christodoulides, and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vučić, on Friday referred to the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed willingness to further strengthen relations in trade and tourism, during their meeting in Belgrade.

According to a statement by the Presidency, Vučić expressed his belief that this meeting will lead to further close cooperation in the near future.

President Christodoulides referred to Nicosia’s commitment and readiness to work for substantive progress on Serbia's European perspective, especially during Cyprus’ EU Presidency in the first half of 2026.

On the issue of Kosovo, he said Cyprus “fully supports the sovereignty, the territorial integrity of Serbia.”

He also announced Cyprus’ participation in the World Expo 2027, to be held in Belgrade.

Vučić, welcoming President Christodoulides, addressed him as a “brother” and a “friend” noting that Cypriots should feel “at home” when in Serbia.

“We are profoundly grateful to Cyprus, to you personally, for being very much supportive not only of Serbia’s EU path, but to developing our bilateral cooperation in all different fields”, he said.

The Serbian President noted that bilateral collaboration in the fields of agriculture, innovation, and military technology, “should be improved in the near future”, expressing hope that this meeting would contribute to further cooperation.

He also thanked Cyprus for supporting Serbia’s territorial integrity and for observing and respecting the UN Charter and UN resolutions.

“Serbian people will always be very thankful to Cypriots”, he said, adding that Nicosia could “always count on our support” as regards Cyprus’ territorial integrity.

“We consider your people as a brotherly nation”, Vučić said, adding that his country would do its best as regards boosting trade between the two countries, but also tourism.

President Christodoulides said it was “a great pleasure to be back in Belgrade for a substantial and symbolic visit.” He noted that it was substantial because of Cyprus’ Presidency of the European Union the first half of 2026 and symbolic, because this was the first visit as part of preparations ahead of the EU Presidency.

“With my visit today, I want to send a strong and clear political message about our commitment, about our readiness to work for substantial progress on the European perspective of Serbia, so I'm looking forward to discussing this issue, how we can coordinate our actions in order to see substantial progress, during our Presidency”, he said.

At the same time, he added, “we'll have the opportunity to discuss our excellent bilateral relations”. President Christodoulides said that he would like to see how Cyprus and Serbia could enhance cooperation on defence and security, but also tourism. He noted that a few weeks ago Cyprus participated for the first time in the tourism fair held in Belgrade. “We are very glad to have more than 200% increase on the number of Serbians visiting Cyprus, we have direct flights every day, so there is a lot of potential there”, he added.

President Christodoulides also announced officially that Cyprus would participate in World Expo 2027 to be held in Belgrade, noting that he would also attend.

“At the same time, I want to repeat our clear position on the issue of Kosovo, Cyprus fully supports the sovereignty, the territorial integrity of Serbia”, he said.

Following their private meeting, the two Presidents presided over an expanded meeting between their delegations and had a working lunch.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raοuna, had a separate meeting with the Minister for European Integration of Serbia, Nemanja Starovic.

(Source: CNA)