Indonesia is of special importance for Serbia in terms of foreign policy, economy and as one of the founders of the NAM

At the joint press conference, Selaković pointed out that Indonesia is a country of special importance for Serbia, not only in terms of foreign policy and economic cooperation, but also in the emotional sense – when it comes to the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"Our presidents were visionaries of the world's foreign policy 60 years ago, and that is when the presidents of Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Ghana, Egypt and the prime minister of India founded the Non-Aligned Movement, which still exists today", Selaković said, adding that he is very happy because Minister Marsudi, as the special envoy of the president of Indonesia, is in Belgrade to celebrate this important jubilee of the NAM.

The minister said that issues of importance for bilateral cooperation were discussed at today's meeting, which he assessed as exceptional and without open issues.

He especially thanked Indonesia for its clear and firm position on the issue of preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia.

The Minister also mentioned that one of the basic values ​​of the NAM is respect for the values ​​of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, and in that sense, he thanked Indonesia for being faithful to those principles.

The Minister said that they discussed the strengthening of economic cooperation, which does not follow the level of political relations, expressing hope that they will discuss additional possibilities of intensifying cooperation when the MFA delegation and he are on an official visit to Indonesia.

According to Selaković, they also talked about holding five political consultations of the ministries of foreign affairs, and the minister mentioned that the harmonization of the Agreement on international legal assistance in criminal matters and the Agreement on extradition is in progress at the level of the ministries of justice.

Minister Retno Marsudi stated that she was glad to be in Belgrade again, after 13 years, and congratulated Serbia on organizing a commemorative meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"I think this is a great opportunity to commit again to working on the principles, values ​​and ideals of the Movement", the minister said, adding that the spirit of the Bandung conference is still alive.

She expressed gratitude to Serbia for supporting Indonesia's initiative to include the archives of the First NAM Summit in the UNESCO Memory of the World programme.

"As your minister of foreign affairs said, we do not have open political issues, so our energy and our focus should be dedicated to finding ways to strengthen economic cooperation", the minister said, stating that the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of agricultural cooperation should be finalized first, and then in the field of investments, in order to further strengthen the two-way exchange of investments.

"Indonesia is ready to continue working with you not only for the good of our two peoples, but also for the good of the world", Marsudi concluded.

The ministers signed the Memorandum of Cooperation between the ministries of foreign affairs of Serbia and Indonesia on diplomatic capacity building today, while the rector of the University of Belgrade and the ambassador of Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Directorate for Innovation of the University of Padjadjaran and the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, on cooperation in the field of business and innovation incubators.