SARAJEVO
President of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister-to-be, who will be responsible for the ministry of customs and trade, ministry of telecommunications and information technologies, Rasim Ljajic, has said that the new upcoming government is ready to cooperate with Turkey.
Ljajic told AA on Tuesday that today's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) is nothing near the party in 90s. He stated that Serbian Development Party (SNS) is on the way for a change too and said, "In this example, the new government of Serbia will not be following the 90s politics."
Being the Minister of Labour & Social Politics in the current government, and ready to be the Deputy Prime Ministry in the upcoming government, Ljajic talked to AA about the situation in the Balkans, Serbia's relations with Turkey.
He said that the meeting between the new Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured the cooperation plans.
Ljajic expressed that the Turkish investments in Serbia are not enough and they would like to change that. Ljajic said, "There is a great potential in Serbia for investing. Also, Turkish investors should take advantage from the free trade agreement. With this agreement, bilateral relations improved however they are still not at desired levels. The most important thing is that there is a will in both countries for cooperating."
He stated that it was hardest decision he had to make in all his political life to set up a coalition between the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and Serbian Development Party (SNS).
Answering the question about the situation of Bosnians who live in the Sandzak region, he replied saying that with the joining of his party into the new government, Sandzak region will get back into stability. He said, "We agree that Sandzak fell behind the other regions. We should have a wide point of view and see that if Serbia is not successful, neither Sandzak nor other regions will be successful."
Ljajic claimed that the new government have two primary foreign affairs to follow and said, "Our first target is to join the European Union (EU). However it will take some time, the most important thing at the moment is having a date for the start of negotiations. Our second aim is to develop the regional cooperations and normalize the bilateral relations with regional countries."
Reporting by Faruk Vele
