Dušan Kozarev: Belgrade, Baku to continue developing co-op even after Serbia's elections – EXCLUSIVE

Relations between Serbia and Azerbaijan are dynamically developing year by year, with expanding energy cooperation, natural gas supplies, new energy projects, direct flights between Belgrade and Baku, and active political dialogue clearly demonstrating these dynamics.

Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Dusan Kozarev spoke in an interview with Report about the current level of bilateral relations, plans for 2027, upcoming visits, inter-ministerial consultations, energy cooperation, and new areas of interaction.

- How do you assess the current level of relations between Serbia and Azerbaijan and the interaction between the foreign ministries of the two countries?

- Serbia and Azerbaijan are friendly, brotherly countries, and especially relations between the two leaders, Ilham Aliyev and Aleksandar Vučić, are very close and friendly. This is also reflected in the dynamism of bilateral cooperation between the two ministries.

Our foreign ministers recently met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, participated in the first ambassadorial conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, which is already becoming a tradition.

When it comes to the key aspects of our relations and crucial areas of our cooperation, we see those mostly through energy, through general economic ties, but also some very sophisticated and strategic spheres like defense, intelligence, security, and high tech.

So we are trying to interconnect mutually as much as possible, especially because we also share a strategic partnership between our two countries. So I can say that relations between Serbia and Azerbaijan are at the highest possible level.

- What are the plans of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia for developing relations with Azerbaijan in 2027? Is it planned to sign new documents or cooperation programs between foreign policy departments?

- We are currently at the missing persons dedicated conference in Baku, and part of the activities that we plan for the future (and that's one of the reasons that I'm here on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is that we are going to share forensic data that Azerbaijan asked from Serbia in terms of expertise in this field.

And we are going to make certain mutual commissions in this aspect between Serbia and Azerbaijan so that we would help each other find missing persons.

Apart from that, our plan for 2027 includes, among other things, bilateral visits on high and highest levels.

- Could you tell us more about the planned visits?

- Most certainly, we would have some ministers visiting both countries on both sides, from each of the countries to one another, that we will continue cooperation in some very important fields, like enhancing the natural gas partnership when it comes to building a new gas-powered electric plant in Niš in Serbia, and a general agreement was just signed recently.

And we will also hold traditional and regular bilateral consultations. The most recent ones were held in Belgrade, so the next round should take place in Baku.

- Are there already approximate dates for the upcoming visits?

- There are no firm plans in terms of dates at this very moment. We are currently in an election period in Serbia, and within the next three weeks we should hold parliamentary elections, then by the end of the year presidential elections.

So I can see when this all wraps up, we're going to make plans for the next year in terms of bilateral relations with Azerbaijan when it comes to specific dates and times. Although elections don't have anything to do with our relations, and they are going to keep up the pace as the highest possible level relations between our two countries, but specific dates, times, formats, and people who are visiting each other, I can see how that's going to be better known in the coming period.

- How is consular cooperation developing between Serbia and Azerbaijan? Are consular consultations planned in the near future?

- We are on excellent terms in this field, and something that we are proud of is that people of Azerbaijan can use their passports to travel to Serbia without visas and vice versa.

And recently Air Serbia established a regular airline connection between Belgrade and Baku, and we arrived and are returning on these flights.

So it will also - not just consular in terms of our mutual cooperation, but in terms of the number of people that are going to visit countries on both sides, that is going to intensify in the coming period.

With this airline traffic that might at some point become even more intense in terms of connections established between the two cities and frequencies of flights.

- Do we correctly understand that the results of the upcoming elections in Serbia will not affect the level of relations with Azerbaijan, regardless of which political force or candidate wins?

- I'm certain that the level of understanding between the peoples of Serbia and Azerbaijan is high enough that whoever might be in power, we would be friends and brothers.