Lavrov to Pay Working Visit to Serbia in December, Attend BSEC Meeting

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will start a two-day working visit to Serbia on Monday to meet senior officials, discuss bilateral relations and later take part in the 35th Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) ministerial meeting.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In late November, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Lavrov's working visit to the Balkan country will take place On December 12-13. The Serbian side later said that the main purpose of the visit is to attend the upcoming BSEC foreign ministers' meeting, currently chaired by Serbia, and denied reports that the visit may be linked to recent disturbances in neighboring Montenegro.

BILATERAL

"In Belgrade he [Lavrov] will be received by the state's president, prime minister and hold talks with the foreign minister," Russian Foreign Minister's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in November.

She said the Russian minister would discuss the entire range of bilateral relations and exchange opinions with Serbian top officials on urgent issues on the international agenda.

MONTENEGRO

In early December, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic refuted media reports saying that the visit has connection to the foiled coup in Montenegro.

On October 16, on the parliamentary elections day in Montenegro, 20 people were detained and 14 of them were arrested for planning to conduct attacks, targeting both civilian population and high-ranking officials, as well as seizing the parliament's building. Montenegro's prosecutor Milivoje Katnic later alleged that "nationalists from Russia" planned to stage a government overthrow but added that there was no evidence for the Russian government involvement.

BSEC

Dacic said the main purpose of the visit was to take part in the BSEC meeting on Tuesday. The minister also confirmed a series of bilateral meetings planned for Monday. According to Dacic, the Serbian and Russian foreign ministers had agreed to meet at least twice a year.

The 35th BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs will be held in Belgrade and will be chaired by Dacic.

BSEC was launched as a regional initiative, with Turkey’s lead, in 1992 at the Istanbul Summit. In 1999, BSEC was officially transformed from an initiative into a regional cooperation organization, now comprising 12 member states, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as 16 observers and 15 sectoral dialogue partners.

The upcoming working session will see ministers exchanging views on issues of cooperation in the region as well as transferring the BSEC chairmanship from Serbia to Turkey, according to an earlier statement by the organization.

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov would attend the meeting. The ministry said Moscow views BSEC as the sole regional economic platform for comprehensive economic cooperation around the Black Sea.

The ministers will consider the results of Serbia's chairmanship as well as look into ways of strengthening the organization's financing and making preparations for its 25-year founding anniversary next year, according to the ministry.

The participants will also seek to improve the work of various sectoral bodies and increase the volume of joint projects, the ministry said, adding that the development of multilateral ties within the BSEC is key to ensuring stability and security in the Black Sea region.