Serbian President Boris Tadic will depart for a two-day visit to Italy on Thursday so as to meet with President of the Lombardy Region Roberto Formigoni on Thursday evening and attend a Serbia-Friuli Venezia Giulia business forum on Friday.

The business forum in Trieste is held on the agreement of the Serbian president and President of the Italian region Renzo Tondo reached late in 2011.

Serbia and Italy have close economic and political cooperation, which has been intensified in the last couple of months.

Early in March, the second Serbia-Italy Summit was held in Belgrade, and attended by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who pointed out that Italy will back Serbia on its EU pathway.

Monti said Serbia deserved the EU candidate status, and that the efforts that the country made in order to fulfill all EU preconditions set a good example.

Speaking about the date for the beginning of the accession talks, Monti underlined that this is a very important phase, after which nothing will be the same.

Italy wants to back Serbia on that pathway, and it wants Europe to view Serbia as politically and economically mature for such a step, Monti said, stressing that the two countries' relations are developing in terms of strategic partnership.

President Tadic said that since signing of the agreement on the strategic partnership with Italy in 2009, the number of Italian companies in Serbia has reached over 400.

Earlier this month, Tadic conferred with President of the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia Renzo Tondo on fostering of economic cooperation primarily among medium and small-sized enterprises.

The Serbian president underlined the importance of such cooperation, which may result in creation of new jobs in Serbia.

"Italy is a champion of small and medium companies, and I would like to see our businesses continue to find partners there," Tadic said.

The region of Friuli Venezia Giulia has been determined by a decree of the Italian Foreign Ministry to maintain special relations with Serbia.