UK foreign secretary meets with Serbian president during Belgrade visit

(2 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 2 April 2025
1. Wide of meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and United Kingdom’s foreign secretary David Lammy
2. Various of Lammy during meeting
3. Wide of meeting
4. Various of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during meeting
5. Vucic and Lammy ahead of the press conference with ministers
6. Lammy and Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali signing agreement
7. Vucic and Lammy arriving for statements
8. SOUNDBITE (English), David Lammy, U.K. foreign secretary:
"A stable and secure Western Balkans matters to us today and Serbia plays a fundamental role in delivering that stability.”
9. UK and Serbian flags
10. SOUNDBITE (English) David Lammy, U.K. foreign secretary:
”These memorandums of understanding show our ambition to do more together. We are stepping up efforts to crack down on organized crime. Our agreement today means we can better disrupt the gangs profiting from smuggling vulnerable people.”
11. Serbian and EU flags
12. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian President
”We also talked about regional issues. Regardless of our differences on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, both sides believe that dialogue is a of key importance and that problems should be solved through talks and finding compromised solutions.”
13. Vucic and Lammy shaking hands and leaving
STORYLINE:
The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary David Lammy discussed efforts at Kosovo-Serbia normalization with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade Wednesday.

Serbia plays a “fundamental role” in delivering stability in the Balkans, Lammy said at a joint press conference with Vucic.

Lammy also hailed an agreement with Serbia on combating people smuggling in the Balkans amid a surge in the number of migrants reaching the U.K. in small boats across the English Channel.

Serbia's President Vucic said dialogue was the way to reach a “compromise” in both Kosovo and in Bosnia, where separatist moves by Bosnian Serbs have renewed ethnic tensions.

Earlier today Lammy met with Kosovo officials.

Lammy assured Kosovar officials that “the U.K. continues to play its essential role as a key friend and partner of this great nation.”

Kosovo-Serbia ties remain tense and the 14-year-long normalization talks have failed to make progress.

The EU and the United States have urged Kosovo and Serbia to implement agreements reached two years ago that include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities and Serbia’s obligation to provide de facto recognition of Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Belgrade and its key allies Russia and China refuse to recognize.

AP Video by: Ivana Bzganovic
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