"The first summit of the governments of Italy and Serbia will take place on November 13." So announced this morning Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, after a meeting at the Italian Foreign Office with his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic. Frattini called the coming summit "extremely important."

The participants will include Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the president of Serbia Boris Tadic and several ministers, including those of foreign affairs, of the interior, energy, environment and industry. "Many bilateral and European issues" are on the agenda.

After his meeting with Frattini, Jeremic said that he is pleased that the summit will be held, noticing that this is the first summit of its kind that Serbia is to hold with an EU member country and that similar summits will be held regularly from now on.

We agreed that this should become a tradition, said Jeremic, adding that Italy holds similar summits with France, Spain and Germany.

Speaking about economic cooperation, the Serbian Foreign Minister said that this will be an important subject at the summit, particularly the continuation of the South Stream gas pipeline project. He remarked that Serbia is satisfied with the reassurances it has received that Fiat will continue with its joint investment with Serbia.

The Serbian government is determined to pursue its goal of EU membership as a central strategic priority and this year Serbia will apply for candidate status, he said.

He stressed that the application will be submitted after consultations with partners in the EU, primarily Italy.

Italy is in favour of immediately unfreezing the Transitional Trade Agreement between Serbia and the EU and this matter will be discussed by the EU in October, said Jeremic, adding that a major debate concerning the Treaty of Lisbon and further EU enlargement will also be held then.

Jeremic said that Serbia is strongly determined to acquire EU membership and will continue in this direction, regardless of the political and institutional circumstances in Brussels.

We will continue our efforts to meet all criteria and the sooner the way to membership opens up formally the better it will be, said Jeremic.

It has been ten years since the relations between Serbia and Italy reached their lowest point, but now we are on the way to establishing a very good relationship, he said.

Jeremic thanked Frattini for his work on opening the visa liberalisation process, which he performed as a former EU commissioner, adding that he hopes to be in Rome for New Year, when the first Serbian citizens will arrive in an EU country without needing visas.

Frattini said that at the summit in Rome, scheduled for November 13, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will also be present, as well as foreign ministers from both countries and ministers of the interior, economic cooperation, industry, energy and others.

The goal is to close as many cooperation deals as possible in those areas, he said.

Frattini stressed that Serbia has Italy’s full support to continue with its EU integration, adding that it is his personal wish that Serbia applies for EU candidacy before the end of the year.

At the EU Summit in October a broad debate on the Western Balkans will begin and Italy will once again advocate the unfreezing of the Transitional Trade Agreement with Serbia, he said.

There is only one EU state opposed to this, Frattini recalled, adding his hopes that Serbia will nevertheless manage to apply for candidacy by the end of 2009.

Frattini voiced his hope that at the end of 2009 or in early 2010 the visa regime will be abolished for Serbian citizens, announcing that when it happens he will make sure that Serbian citizens travel to Italy for their first visa-free trip and be his guests there.

Speaking about Italy and Serbia’s bilateral relations, Frattini said that their governmental summit will be an excellent opportunity for further improvement.

Fiat is continuing with its planned investment in Zastava, Frattini stressed, adding that he also talked with Jeremic about the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo-Metohija, announcing that he will visit Sarajevo and Pristina.