Austrian President Heinz Fischer said Friday in a statement to Tanjug that Vienna will continue to support Serbia and that negotiations between Serbia and the EU on membership need to proceed as soon as possible after fulfilling the prerequisites.

Before his meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Fisher stressed that Austria has a clear policy when dealing with the Western Balkan states, of which Serbia is the biggest, and that is that Vienna wants the European perspective to open up for them.

That is why Austria especially wanted to take part in March in the adoption of decisions that led to the granting of candidate status to Serbia, he said.

Austria's policy that the negotiations must be conducted successfully remains unchanged, Fischer said.

Austria has no reason to be interested in delaying the negotiations, he said.

Asked about the relations between the two countries, Fischer said that they are very good.

Our Foreign Ministries are closely cooperating. Personally, I have an excellent relationship with President Tadic, Fischer said.

Austria has been the largest investor in Serbia for many years. Our bilateral trade will soon reach 900 million euros, Fisher said.