Serbian Ambassador to Croatia Stanimir Vukicevic spoke about the experience of Serbia in the process of accession to the European Union and the country's foreign policy priorities at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb late Thursday.

"The priorities of Serbia's foreign policy are European integration, regional cooperation, economic relations and Kosovo, and these are mutually complementary and cannot be sorted out by relevance, even though the focus is now mainly on the relations with the EU," Vukicevic pointed out in a speech he gave as a participant in the 'Know Your Neighbors' project at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb.

Vukicevic stressed that surveys had shown that about 80 percent of Serbia's citizens were "for" the EU accession, adding that Serbia would use Croatian experience in the preaccession talks to make the process faster.

Progress in the negotiations with the EU will depend on Kosovo, but the Union does not seek from Serbia to recognize Kosovo, it rather wants the issues important for ordinary people to be resolved through dialogue, he said, adding that it is essential to make sure that Kosovo is not a security problem for the region.

As part of its cooperation with the ICTY, Serbia has extradited 45 people, it has provided legal assistance to The Hague Tribunal over 2,000 times and prosecuted a number of perpetrators of war crimes committed in Vukovar (eastern Croatia), Zvornik (Bosnia Herzegovina), giving them heavy sentences, the ambassador said.

Vukicevic talked about the expectations that Serbia, like other countries of the region, has from the donor conference to be held in April, which should help resolve the outstanding issues of return of refugees to their homes or ensure their integration in the countries they have taken their refuge in.