Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg stated Saturday that Serbia is now a modern and stable country which has made a lot of progress on its European pathway, adding that it will most likely join the EU before Norway does.

Stoltenberg, who conferred with Serbian presidential candidate Boris Tadic in Belgrade today, congratulated Tadic on Serbia's achievements in the past several years and pointed out that the progress is important for the entire region and Europe.

Serbia is a crucial country in the region and its stability represents major contribution to the stability of the region and the EU itself, Stoltenberg underlined.

He congratulated Serbia on obtaining the EU candidate status and stressed that the country is speedily advancing on the EU pathway and strengthening of cooperation with its neighbors in the EU, and Norway.

Even though Norway is not an EU member state, we are fully integrated into the European market, and Serbia's EU integration will also imply integration into the Norwegian economy, Stoltenberg said, adding that the economic connections between the two countries are at a very high level.

According to him, even though the two countries have been hit by crisis, Serbia has managed to attract numerous investments, one of the largest of which is the investment of the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor.
I would like to see more foreign investments in Serbia, above all more Norwegian investments, he pointed out.

Stressing that Tadic and himself are good friends, Stoltenberg said that the two of them, just like Serbia and Norway, closely cooperate in the international scene and within the UN, where they share views on important issues such as peace, stability and climate changes.

We also jointly take part in military missions abroad, which is yet another step forward in the Serbia-Norway cooperation, he said.

Tadic said that he and Stoltenberg discussed the two countries' relations, economic situation, challenges faced by countries in the period of crisis, and political issues that need to be resolved in the South East European region.

Tadic said that, immediately after the completion of the campaign and elections, he expects Serbia to continue its efforts to obtain the date for the beginning of EU accession talks, which is important not only for the success in politics, but also for investments, opening of new jobs, and improvement of the social policy.

He said that both Serbia and Norway have been hit by crisis, adding that one can learn from that country how problems are resolved.

He underlined that Norway and Serbia hold shared values, that they jointly combat terrorism and fight for global security through multilateral and global cooperation.

Tadic, who is the leader of the Democratic Party, visited the headquarters of one of three mobile operators in Serbia with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The two officials were received by the company's Director General Chel-Morten Jonsen.

Cvetkovic: Stability most important for Serbia

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic conferred with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday, and said that political and economic stability is of utmost importance for Serbia in the further process of EU integration.

Stoltenberg congratulated Serbia on obtaining the status of an EU candidate, and added that the country is rapidly moving down the path of EU integration and deepening of cooperation with regional countries, the EU and Norway.

The Serbian prime minister said that Serbia is ahead of an intensive process of European integration and further implementation of all necessary reforms.

Cvetkovic stated that Serbia and Norway have very good bilateral relations, but that they should be improved even more, especially in the field of economy.

The two officials concluded that the good example of Telenor, a telecommunications company which is the biggest individual investment in Serbia, should be followed by other Norwegian companies, and that mutual cooperation could be expanded in the field of energy, environmental protection and infrastructure, says a statement issued by the Serbian government's Office for Media Relations.