President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday before leaving for Serbia, that Romania supports the actual start of accession negotiations for Serbia to the European Union by the end of the year, adding that the neighboring country is a key partner for Bucharest.
"We want to reiterate Romania's interest in this region of the Western Balkans", said the President, adding that Serbia's EU accession is a "crucial stage" and Romania is in favor of the actual accession negotiations to start by the end of this year, Mediafax reports.
Iohannis will meet with his Serbian counterpart, Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic, and an important point on the agenda of the official one day visit will be the meeting with representatives of the Romanian community.
The president insisted that Serbia plays an important role in terms of regional stability and is a key partner of Romania, taking into account the "dynamic bilateral relationship". He added that there is interest on both sides for infrastructure projects, be it about transport or energy.
The President also added that the existence of a Romanian community in Serbia and the Serbian community in Romania is "an asset to be exploited to its full potential," adding that the role of these communities must be strengthened.
Serbia's accession negotiations to the European Union were formally opened in January 2014 in Brussels, thus launching a long process that focuses on the key issue of recognizing Kosovo.
Serbia has obtained the official status of candidate in March 2012, but Brussels has announced the opening of negotiations only a year later, after Serbia reached in April 2013 an agreement considered "historic" on normalizing its relations with Kosovo.