(ANSA) - BELGRADE, July 15 - French President Emmanuel Macron
will arrive in Belgrade this afternoon for a two-day visit which
the local leadership is awaiting with huge interest. Indeed, the
Serbian government has the goal of strengthening the country's
economic and political relationship with France.
Macron is the first French president to visit Belgrade over
the past 18 years. The last one to visit Serbia was Jacques
Chirac in December 2001, in conjunction with the 180th
anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between the
two countries.
Macron's visit, which had been scheduled for last December
and was then postponed due to the yellow vest crisis, reveals,
according to some observers, France's desire to strengthen its
influence in the Balkan region.
The key issues in Macron's talks with his Serbian counterpart
Aleksandar Vucic will be the strengthening of trade, the
prospect of Serbia's integration into the EU and the Kosovo
issue, in an attempt to favor the resumption of dialogue between
Belgrade and Pristina.
The dialogue stopped last November when the Kosovo leadership
increased by 100% the tariffs on imports from Serbia and Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Belgrade demands the abolition of these tariffs
as a condition for resuming talks.(ANSA).
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