On day one of the Seminar, the participants were welcomed by Mr Ivica Dačić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, and Mr Igor Bečić, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and then the participants were addressed by the following, in their introductory remarks: Mr Dragan Šormaz, Head of the Permanent Delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the NATO PA; Mr Paolo Alli, Vice President of the NATO PA; Mr Jean-Daniel Ruch, Swiss Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia and to Montenegro, and Mr Ivan Vejvoda, Senior Representative German Marshal Fund Programs of the United States of America, followed by time allocated for Q&A.

The first session on the topic “Serbia in the Euro-Atlantic Community” was moderated by Ms Dubravka Filipovski, member of the Permanent Delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the NATO PA, and, in this part, the participants of the gathering were also addressed by Ambassador Ms Roksanda Ninčić, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and Mr Zoran Đorđević, State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia. Answering the question asked by the representative of Montenegrin Delegation, in the context of Euro-Atlantic integration of Montenegro, Ambassador Ninčić pointed out that Serbia would be among the first to congratulate Montenegro on its NATO membership, and in the sense of continuing further cooperation between the two countries she recognised room for its further strengthening and deepening. The second panel of the session was moderated by Mr Branislav Blažić, member of the Permanent Delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the NATO PA, which was followed by the address by Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia; Mr Ján Varšo, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the Republic of Serbia, and Mr Marko Savković, Program Director of the Belgrade Security Forum.

The second session dedicated to the topic “The Western Balkans and Euro-Atlantic Integration” was moderated by Mr Milovan Milošević, Executive Director of the Atlantic Council of Serbia, and the participants were addressed by: Ambassador Mr Miomir Udovički, Head of the Serbian Mission to NATO; Ambassador Mr Stelian Stoian, Permanent Representative of Romania to NATO; Ms Jelena Milić, Executive Director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, and Mr Savo Kentera, President of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro. This was followed by time allocated for discussion and sharing of opinions which was, for the most part, dedicated to current issues of regional character on the path to European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

The Seminar continues its work tomorrow.